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Old 08-08-2018, 11:05 AM
  # 275 (permalink)  
Gilmer
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Ashburn, VA
Posts: 30,196
I’m on my way to the Jersey Shore with my two daughters and granddaughter.

One of my cousins lives in the area, and I had arranged to stop in at his place to visit and kill time till check-in time at our motel.

Turns out we’ll get there later than we thought, so now the plan is to go directly to the motel, rest for an hour, then go to his town for a pre-reserved carriage ride around the town. Then I have reservations at 6 for dinner (where they serve snapper soup—with REAL SNAPPING TURTLE MEAT).

So I asked my cousin if we could switch to an after dinner time, say 7:30.

He and his wife had previous plans to see a concert; but he said by all means to come on over at 8:30. He promised to roll out the red carpet for us by preparing a pitcher of tasty frozen drinks.

I have told him before that I’m an alcoholic, but the news always seems to fall on deaf ears.

When I first found out that it would be pushed back to 8:30, I wanted to call off the whole thing. 9:00 is usually my bedtime—how much more so after a long day of traveling?

And the whole “heavy drinking is a way of life” attitude was just something I just didn’t want to deal with.

But he’s a good cousin and the only link for the cousins with the rest of the family.

And there is no other time that would be more convenient, so I went with it.

I wrote back reminding him that my 7–y-o granddaughter would be along, so she and I would need virgin drinks.

Then I remembered, “Oh! And B. is pregnant, so she’ll need one, too!

Then I thought, “And S. is driving, so I guess that means virgin drinks for all of us!

“But don’t mind us! We’ll be ready for a good time no matter what we drink!”

It still stressed me out, though, and made me want to avoid the evening like the plague!

I apologetically told my daughters about the new plan that threatened to drag on past bedtime.

Surprisingly, my daughters were very pleased that I should go and get together with him and his wife one last time. They’re psyched for the fun vibe that seems to have been accompanying all my “final get-togethers” so far.

Just knowing that they actually wanted to go and weren’t awkward about hanging out with some relative that they barely knew, it brought back my excitement.

And at this point we’ve just got an hour left on the trip, and I’m in no way tired!

At dinner I’ll just have a cup of coffee to prop me up for the late visit.

Wish us luck!
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