Dave and Tracey Had a Babysitter

Dave and I had a babysitter Saturday night. We hadn’t been out alone since we saw Slumdog Millionaire and I was really looking forward to going out for dinner and drinks. Our next door neighbors Brooke and Spence were able to get a sitter too so they joined us for a night out.

We decided to go to Sam and Gabe’s, one of my favorite restaurants. It was going to be a long wait for dinner so we squeezed ourselves around a small table in the bar area and ordered drinks. Dave and I always split a bottle of La Crema pinot noir when we go to Sam and Gabe’s but they stopped carrying it so we settled on a bottle of syrah instead.

Our table was finally ready after an hour and a half. We sat down and ordered more wine and drinks. I chose Italian nachos for my dinner which is actually an appetizer but there are a lot of them so it’s easily enough for a meal. The chips are deep fried and puffy yet also crispy. There is crumbled Italian sausage and some sort of white sauce on top. I order them almost every time we go to Sam and Gabe’s.

After we finished eating we discussed where we should go next. We wanted to listen to music so we asked the wait staff to recommend something. They didn’t have many ideas but finally suggested Denny Arthur’s.

Denny Arthur’s is a dance club for the “over thirty crowd.” It was quite popular during the 90’s and I didn’t even realize it was still open for business. Somehow, it seemed like the perfect choice and it was conveniently located around the corner from Sam and Gabe’s. One quick shortcut through a Perkins restaurant parking lot and we were there.

There wasn’t anywhere to sit when we first walked in but, utilizing a maneuver I perfected in my twenties, I noticed an empty table and shot like a bullet from a gun toward it before anyone else could claim it. We sat down and just then, I heard the opening notes of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.”

Brooke and I hit that dance floor like it was our job. My entrance would have been much more graceful had I realized it was a sunken dance floor because I totally missed the step down and went flying. From then on, whenever we entered or exited the dance floor I was all, “be careful there” while pointing at the step.

We danced without inhibition. The dance floor wasn’t very crowded which was a good thing as we were using every bit of available space. Spence and Dave had a great view of us so we really ramped up the Solid Gold dancer show. I opened with the classic housewife move which involves raising your arms above your head and spinning around while shouting, “woo-hoo!” Then Brooke tried to do a herky but she did a stag so I showed her what a herky was and she did that too. Not to be outdone, I started doing “The Running Man” and quickly followed up with a little Saturday Night Fever (a la John Travolta) and THEN I started doing I’m Bernadette
and cracked myself up so much I had to leave the dance floor and go to the bathroom before I had a pee-pee accident in my new white pants.

When I returned to the dance floor I felt like the class clown. Brooke and I had to keep coming up with new dance moves to entertain Dave and Spence who were laughing their asses off at us. The fact that we had a captive audience did nothing to temper our behavior; frankly it’s the only explanation I can think of for why I pretended to lasso something with my left hand while smacking my own ass with my right. Dave and Spence seemed to really enjoy that move.

The post-dinner buzz that had been so strong when we arrived began to diminish and some of my inhibitions started to return. The dance floor was getting more crowded and Dave and Spence could hardly see us. They were, however, still able to catch a glimpse of me doing “The Sprinkler” and “The Robot” which I am really good at. I also did various other dances I made up all by myself.

At one point, Brooke sent her mom a text to let her know we were at Denny Arthur’s. Her mom texted back immediately, “Oh dear God, we’ll be there in a flash.” Brooke’s parents arrived at Denny Arthur’s soon after and we immediately drug her mom onto the dance floor (she had no trouble with the tricky step).

We danced to several more songs and then took a break while all the Denny Arthur’s regulars did a bunch of dorky line dances.

We returned to the dance floor for “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy”, “Redneck Woman”, “All Summer Long”, and “Rock Star.”

I honestly can’t remember the last time I danced in a bar. We were having so much fun I didn’t want to leave but we’d told our babysitter we’d be home by midnight so we reluctantly called it a night.

I don’t think Spence and Dave had quite as much fun as Brooke and I did. We all rode together in one car and Dave took his designated driver responsibilities pretty seriously so I think things would have been different for him had he been able to drink a little more. I’m sure Dave and Spence had a very entertaining evening and I think we might have gotten them out on the dance floor eventually, if we’d bothered to ask them.

They say you should dance like nobody’s watching and I think Brooke and I can cross that one of our lists, even if everyone really was .

It wasn’t an inexpensive evening by any means. By the time we paid for dinner, drinks, and a sitter we’d made a pretty good dent in our entertainment budget.

But it was money well spent because in my opinion? Nights that are that fun are absolutely priceless.