The Day We Called It A Night

One of the big challenges of growing up in a pit of hell like Mineral Wells, Texas was finding something to occupy the violet hours besides driving around the car wash for the hundredth time or spending copious amounts of time a the Dairy Queen. Dating in such limited circumstances proved to be a very circumscribed activity -- one was limited to a fancy dinner at K-Bobs, the one steakhouse in town (think Ponderosa quality) or to drive to a franchise restaurant in the neighboring city of Weatherford. My friends and I were always scheming to come up with something to do and new ways to fix people up. My friend Angela Dawn and I fancied ourselves pseudo-hippies, twenty years too late, and listened to my mother's Steppenwolf record a lot, especially the slow melodic ballads about the pusherman and loving odes to pot use.

Once we went so far as to turn off all the lights in my parents' house, light a ton of candles, put on the what we imagined was the most seductive Steppenwolf song in hopes of matchmaking for my friend and another mutual friend. We sat in another darkened room while the magic happened in the living room. It didn't. The victim of our fix-up fled into the night, after comparing the night to a live version of Fatal Attraction, a movie that had just come out and was attempting to scare people into monogamy. There's so many of those that try to convince us that our sorry lives are good -- at least Glenn Close isn't dressed all in white and calling my home, threatening to boil my bunny! I have it really really good! As my friend Hank was fond of saying, You keep telling yourself that, cowboy (he always used cowboy, even when the subject was a woman). We attempted to comfort our friend with the time-honored out -- it's him, not you. He was overwhelmed by his feelings (yeah, feelings of fear and terror), he'll come around. All around us, candles glowed, music played. We listened as John Kay implored the government not to step on the grass. We had pulled out all the stops! Maybe we could get him to Possum Kingdom Lake next week -- we had a lot more ideas to discuss before we gave up and called it a night.

Michelle's Spell of the Day

"Drink wine to remember, swill gin to forget and blame the world for the peace that you haven't found yet." John Kay, Steppenwolf

Drinking music suggestion for Friday: It's Martini Time! Reverend Horton Heat

Benedictions and Maledictions

Thanks to everyone for all the great recent comments! And I agree with all the flower stuff -- especially the idea of a wildflower arrangement. They're very long-lasting and beautiful, a rare combination if there ever was one.