Day Thirty Nine: A "Tipple"

I went out last night. It was the first time that I have been out with friends since my Mom passed away.

That's all I could think about all day long, and the anticipation of it was akin to "first date" butterflies. My inner monologue was nonstop, filled with more questions than answers:
Would I have a good time?
What should I wear?
How long will I stay out?
Will I say something stupid and make everyone uncomfortable?
Is it going to rain?
What the heck should I wear?

On and on it went until I was finally ready to leave, Dave practically throwing me out the front door.

Oh, Dave. His eyes said it all: Begone, crazy woman! And have fun.

Which I did, of course. It began with burgers in a park under a rainbow of umbrellas, the rain falling lightly around us. This was where I had my first beer. Then we walked to an old tavern with a literary pedigree, and we talked about our kids and unofficially arranged marriages. There I had my second and third beers. Afterwards, our group of six became four and we found ourselves in a coffee shop that was certainly not known for serving coffee--all because of one person's confession of wanting a little something more, something she jokingly called a "tipple." How could I say no to that? A "tipple." It just sounded fun. And this was where I had a peach sangria and a mojito, though it should have been my fourth and fifth beers.

When I got home at 2:00 AM, I was in bad shape. Tipple be damned.

My "tipple" friend is also my "whole duck" friend. Because one drunken night, after imbibing a few appropriately named Yum-Yum cocktails and getting a questionable massage, we slid into a greasy spoon in Chinatown and ordered a whole duck. The exchange between my friend and the waiter went something like this:

waiter: "Can I take your order?"
my friend: "We'd like two Tsing Tao beers...and a whole duck."
waiter: [pause, blank stare] "A whole duck?"
my friend: "A whole duck."
waiter: "A whole duck??"
my friend: [slowly for emphasis] "A WHOLE duck."

I may be slightly hung over today. But last night I was reminded of how great it is to be with friends.

Thanks, girls. And to my "tipple" friend: next time, let's skip the tipple and order a whole duck.