Sparkles and Hoo Hoos...

You want to do what to my son?

It was late night at Grand Central downtown. Eric (my son) was opening up for a Nationally and Internationally touring singer songwriter named Hannah Aldridge. You should look her up, she is great! She is the daughter of Walt Aldridge, look him up too...lots of talent!

He sounded great and the crowd was into the music. Everyone was pleasant and happy. It was everything that a night out should be.

Early on I noticed a couple of cute young ladies in the crowd. They danced and they twirled around, sometimes it seemed they were not even aware there were other people there. One had on tight jeans with the sparkly glitter on the back pockets, which drew all of the attention to her butt. She had on a top that hung off one shoulder and did not come down low enough to cover her flat tanned belly, with a sparkling belly ring. Yet it occasionally slipped down too far at the top and revealed a little more cleavage than the law should allow. Her friend wore a cute blue and green dress that was not a mini dress but a micro-mini. While standing straight up, the dress barely covered her “hoo-hoo”, unfortunately she did not stand up straight all night. SO, when she raised her hands, we could see the edge of her booty. Then we got a full view of all that she had when she bent over to pick up her phone from the floor. By the way, she wore a lacy, seafoam green thong that disappeared and popped out at the top of her booty. So, I can tell you we saw it all.

I realize we see thong bikinis on the beach and it is no longer that shocking to see. It was not a disastrous view, this young lady was in great shape and seemed very proud of that. I do not mean to judge these girls, they were having fun and they should.

Soon my attention was diverted to a couple of guys who stood near the bar and they were getting more and more “happy” as the night passed; they also became more and more amusing. One was demonstrating his dancing abilities for the other. He would put his whole body into the effort as the music played. He moved to the right, then to the left to each beat and he wore a smile the whole time. I recognized one move that belongs to MC Hammer, and he did it well. It was clear that he loved to dance. His friend was not impressed and laughed at those dance moves, yet he never had the courage to attempt dancing himself. 

The dancer was very short, he wore jeans, boots and a white tee shirt that had the logo of a strip club called “Sammie’s” emblazoned on back. His friend, who was still unamused, was leaning against the bar. He was wearing light, torn, faded jeans, flip-flops and an unbuttoned flannel shirt with a dingy looking tee shirt underneath. The friend was more into listening to the music. It seemed that each was enjoying themselves, but the dancing one continued to annoy the non-dancer with his "Watch this!" "Look at me", every few minutes. It reminded me of a kid at the swimming pool, yelling "Look Mommy!" So I could empathize with him. Patience seemed to be his virtue as he continued to watch his little friend in silence, while his expressions were screaming, "have mercy on me Jesus!"

As the evening continued to progress and we were listening to Hannah Aldridge sing, my friend and I kept watching this crowd and smiling. I find the audience to be equally as entertaining as the show on the stage most nights. There is little opportunity to talk at many of these venues because between the music and the natural noises the crowd makes, it is nearly impossible to carry on a conversation.

Later into the evening, I hopped down from the high chair at  my high-top table and headed to the ladies room. A friend I had not seen in a few years spotted me and stepped in my path. It was great to see her and catch up on the goings on in each other’s lives, but all I could think of while she talked was “I have to pee!” I had drank two diet cokes in a relatively short period of time and I needed to continue on to the bathroom; after all, my bladder was in its mid-sixties and it was doing the best that it could, but could only hold out just so long.

Thank goodness, she finished, we hugged and I hurried on in to the bathroom. One of the two girl dancers I described earlier was in there. She started to engage me in conversation and I said “No, wait, I really, really have to GO!”

When I attempted to exit the stall, there she stood. I smiled and said, "Hi" then waited for her to move. Eventually I had to step around her to get to the sink. She then began to talk. “You are Eric’s mom, right?” I said, “yes, I am”. She said “I think he is so talented and so handsome, I just want to cook him up and eat him!”

I thought for a moment, then I said, “ That’s nice, thank you, but I think it would be best if you waited until after the show is over to cook him and eat him.” Then she and I laughed. She then asked me a few questions about Eric; things like, his age, his current relationship situation, etc. I told her his age but I said, “You will have to talk to him about his relationship status”. Then I told her it was nice to meet her and I smiled and returned to my high top table near the stage.

I thought about those two girls on my way home and I realized they were just trying to get attention and have some fun. We all have to do our thing, walk our own paths and sometimes do things that others do not understand. They were young and I suppose they were still trying to find their place in life. 

As I have spent a lot of time in support of my youngest son and his career choice, I have met some of the most delightful, caring, loving people on earth and made many friends of all ages. I have seen sadness, love, tragedy and elation here as much as in the ER where I worked for years. No matter where you spend your time, or what path you are on, life continues and ends all around us.