Kids These Days

It seems somewhere in life Johnny and I have crossed the line between being two crazy kids who go out all hours of the night drinking with friends, and having sit down dinner with wine and good conversation. I'm not quite sure when we moved from one life phase to the next. What I do know is that for his sisters birthday last week, we agreed to go out downtown, and when she announced that they were heading out at midnight, he and I looked at each other in confusion. Wait, you aren't leaving your house until midnight? That's when we like to be getting home!

There was of course once a time in my life when 11:30 was the magic hour the pre-gaming stopped, the cabs arrived and we headed out to all the hottest bars and clubs we could find. Now however, Johnny and I firmly stand behind our motto, that nothing good happens downtown after 1am. It's for this reason, and our love of a good bedtime that we prefer to grab some drinks after a great meal. At 8pm there are no crowds, the bartenders aren't yet crabby and you can still get a seat. Just when things are starting to get busy we like to sneak out the front door and be on our way home. Last weekend however, we were going back in time a bit and joining the fun loving kids for drinks during prime time. As we were getting ready I yelled down the hall, " What are the kids even wearing out these day?" That's right. The kids. Apparently when I turned 24 and we started enjoying going out earlier I forgot what it's like to be in bars with the 'younger' crowd. I decided to stick with practicality. Shorts to combat the heat that was sure to follow a crowd, Wedges to aid in the comfort of standing and a fun necklace to top it all off. I was ready to hang with the cool kids for the night.

I wasn't really ready to hang, but whose surprised. The music was loud, the wait for the bar was ridiculous and the amount of single drunk guys making fools of themselves was unbelievable. I was certainly entertained, but I couldn't help thinking that I would have preferred sitting on a deck somewhere sipping some wine. Sure enough, at approximately 1:05 a fight broke out in the street right in front of the bar we were at. The cops shut down all of the bars, and sent everyone home for the night. There is just nothing good that happens downtown after 1am. I may not be able to hang with the kids quite like I used to, but I'd like to think I can still dressed the part.