We forayed out into the wilds of Brookhaven last night to participate in a small High Museum Young Patron's get together at Pour Wine Market, one of those drink-wine-while-painting places.
As a recently-married man, I can say confidently: The Fall sneaks up on you.
I hadn't been confronted with just how far I'd trundled down the road to married complacency until I realized, too late, that I had just paid $40 to enter a room filled with 25 easels, 23 women, 32 open bottles of wine and a cheese tray.
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No man I consort with would stoop to purchasing a cheese tray. He might show up at your house with a block of cheddar and a pocketknife, but definitely not a cheese tray.
It was a hard moment for me, facing that. I used to own jean shorts, Oakley sunglasses and a superfast boat, and I did absolutely whatever I wanted to all the time. Now here I am in khaki pants, a golf shirt and a smock with paint all over, about to sip wine from a plastic cup and paint a tree with purple buds all over it.
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Then I looked down and realized: I'm carrying my wife's purse.
Like I said: it was a dark day.
There was a bright spot, though. When we pulled up to park, my lovely wife flounced leggily out of the car, bent down, popped back up and said, "Oooooh! look what I got!!" Then handed me a wadded up $20 bill she found laying in the parking lot.
I was ecstatic but she, seeming generally unimpressed, shrugged and said, "Yeah, this happens to me all the time."
Heh!
The fall ain't so bad, I guess - depending on where you land.