Below the bar

Here I sit on a Thursday night, my dad just got home from the bar and reeks of smoke. The smell of that smoke reminds me of how much I want to go out this weekend. There are only a few more hours until Friday night and the start of a busy weekend. I want to go out so bad Friday but I don't know where to go. I'm tired of the restaurant scene. Going out to dinner, staying late and having a fair amount of drinks, the night usually lasting between four and six hours. That gets old very fast because it is the same restaurants and people every time. You know it is bad when you are practically on a first name basis with a large portion of the wait staff and they know not only what food you want but what you drink too. I crave to go to a bar SO bad. I feel the need to go. Different people, different scene....ahh that sounds so refreshing.

WAIT! STOP! SCRATCH THAT!!! ERASE THOSE THOUGHTS IMMEDIATELY!!!!

What am I saying?!?!? I HATE bars. I hate them with a passion and I promised myself I would never set foot in one again after my last visit to one.

It was the night of my 22^nd birthday that my last visit to a bar took place. I was just sitting at home after going out to dinner with my parents when I received a text message from my cousin, Jess.

I am exactly fourteen days older than Jess. She is really my second cousin but seems more like a first. At one point in our lives we were like sisters. Jess practically lived with my family and I when the two of us were younger. We were really close until high school when she started dating a guy that was decades older than her, and dropped out of school to take care of his six kids ranging in age from six months to fifteen years old. That would make Jess about two and a half years older than her boyfriend's oldest child.  I do not see or hear from Jess as much as I used to due to the fact our lives have taken.

I was shocked when I read the text message, "Happy Birthday, Meg!!! Wanna go to the bar tonight with Matt and I and Courtney?"

I was shocked to see this and immediately wondered what the ulterior motives were. I had only met her new boyfriend, Matt, a few times. He seemed liked a great guy. I never see or hang out with our cousin Courtney, so I thought that was a little odd as well.

I thought about it and decided that I would go. After all, it was my birthday. I texted her saying that I would go and we decided to meet at a local bar about 8 o'clock that night. There are very few bars in the area are actually accessible so that made the pickings slim but we were able to go a decent bar. I was actually excited to go out on my birthday for the first time.

Being that my family is always early no matter where we go, I got to the bar about 7:45 p.m and waited in the car for them to arrive. Around 8:05 p.m., I get a text message from Jess.

"Courtney isn't ready yet. We will be there about 8:30," she said.

"Great," I thought, "This isn't getting off to a great start."

My parents were pissed because they wanted to get home and finish what they had been doing before we had left but they didn't want to let me off in case they didn't show.

Well, they did show up so my parents let me out of the van and we went inside to find the bar packed. We found a table and they sat down, or should I say sat up. The only tables in the bar were bar height...go figure. When they sat down I was next to Matt. My head was about even with his calf.

That made for an interesting night. The only time I was on the same level is when Matt was putting a cup holder on my chair. He had heard about my adventures with Jess at State Fair that summer and decided I needed one too. He is an amputee and sometimes uses a wheelchair for long distances.

As the night went on, I ordered my first amaretto sour, well Matt did because he went to the bar to get drinks for everyone. Then when the waitress came around I had my second and maybe more. I spent most of my night watching this really drunk chick enjoying her bachelorette (sp?) party. She was so drunk she could hardly walk or talk. All she could do was fall to the ground. Meanwhile, conversations were held between Matt, Jess and Courtney like I was not even there. I wasn't really noticed until the Jaeger Girls came up to me and asked me if I wanted a shot. That turned their heads and I was suddenly part of the group. (I must have looked pissed off and desperate or something. Lol) I took it and then had another with the rest of the group. I might add that stuff is nasty...lol

After that, I was told to call my ride. They were going to another bar because this one was too expensive and not accessible. But I didn't care; I was ready to go because I was a bit frustrated with them not saying two words to me all night.

So, as much as I want to go to the bar Friday night, I don't. I do not plan on stepping wheel inside a bar for a long time. I do not feel like being the invisible person like I was that night.

So, if you go out to a bar and you are able bodied, remember to look BELOW the bar! :)