We had our August outing of CCR today at the local Red Robin. Whoever ended up losing was going to pay big time as there was a full house with all eight of us participating. To add to the bill, two orders of onion rings were ordered to whet our appetites.
The highlight of the day was provided by Karsten (as usual) when he snarfed his Coke out of the blue. There was some ribbing on each other flying earlier in the meal (which is also usual), but the atmosphere had died down somewhat when the highlight occurred. I guess he was still processing it when he took his drink at the wrong time. As usual, the folks surrounding Karsten immediately made some space for him as you never know what might happen when the K-Rex starts thrashing. Frank, in his attempt to move out of the danger zone, somehow bit the middle of his tongue pretty bad. We're not sure how that happened as it was a good way back, but it was pretty bad (bad enough to warrant thinking about making a trip to the doc's for a stitch or two).
When it came time for the draw, we were our usual rambunctious selves, which caused (again, as usual) the surrounding tables to get into the excitement. I was drawn fourth, so I enjoyed the rest of the draw, which ended when Bryan's card was the last one remaining in the waitresses hand. The hat was exchanged and Bryan proudly wore it out of the restaurant.
The hat is a sombrero from Chevy's Mexican Restaurant. The loser from the previous outing has to wear it throughout the next meal and proudly display it in their office between meals. It usually elicits stares from fellow patrons, but that's alright, it's all part of the fun that is CCR.
Of course, it's not as much fun when you lose, but when you win, it's all good, baby!
Over the course of lunch, I looked up and saw a friend of ours that I hadn't seen in a while being shown to her table by the hostess. D and I used to hang with her and her husband, but when they separated, the friendship dwindled.
I tried to reconnect with the husband, meeting him for lunch and happy hour over the past few years, but we stopped meeting up. I'm guessing that one of the reasons for not continuing our lunches and happy hours is probably because I had no interest in joining him in his "men's club" where membership is attained by attending a Sterling Institute of Relationship's Weekend for Men. He and another friend of mine had gone and both claimed it turned them around. Yeah, I saw some changes in each of them, but I didn't like what I saw. More than that, I didn't like what I read online either once I found out the name of the organization. Search Sterling Institute cult and read some of what comes up -- sure, it might not all be true, but there's enough there to raise your suspicions.
Anyway, when I saw her, I got the distinct impression she had seen me and had no intention of making eye contact. I've seen her a couple of times over the past year at rehab (she broke her arm and was rehabbing at the same place I was for my knee), and tried to catch up, but she seemed distant and not interested in talking. I'm chalking it up to embarrassment over the reason for the separation (and maybe her not knowing what her husband shared of it).
I guess at some point some old friendships are meant to fade away and, eventually, disappear. I guess you could say that we're Christmas card friends, but even then, if you don't interact with folks on a personal basis over the years, when do you end up removing them from your list and letting them drop by the wayside? Is there a point in maintaining contact via a card once a year if there's no attempt to get together personally over the course of the year? Or at some point do you just resign yourself to continue the process, hoping that, at some point in the future you'll rekindle the relationship?
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