Uh.....Was that a Date Night?!?!?

It seems that the only time we have something odd happen it is when we go out on our own.

A week or so ago, I had therapy and Ski had a men's meeting. We had talked briefly about the kids fending for themselves for dinner and I meeting him at the place where he had his meeting and us grabbing something afterward. I got out of my appointment later than I thought, so I gave him a call. Well, silly guy forgot to turn his phone on. So, since I was only a few blocks away, I thought I would drop by the restaurant he had his meeting at. When I walked in, he looked surprised and I was also a bit astonished. There he was having soup, a sandwich (ski: it was technically HALF a sandwich), and a drink. Since I can never resist temptation, I said...

"But I thought we were going out?!?!"

The guys he was with thought that this was going to get interesting, but seriously, we banter a lot and it was nothing out of the ordinary. He said he would have dessert if we went out. So, I told him I would go shopping and he should call me when it was over.

A little later, one of the guys dropped Ski at the mall. After a little discussion, we decided that we would stop by a neat little diner we had been to a few years back. It had been a long time since we had been there and I joked that it had probably closed down. Well, we drove way over there and couldn't seem to find it. We saw a guy on the street and Ski asked him. He looked at us kind of funny and then said, "They're closed--out of business." What a shame. It was a cool place!!

Well, I was driving and I took a wrong turn and ended up on a little "highway" that took us way out into the middle of nowhere. This was the curviest and most rutted road I think I have been on since being in PA. After what seemed to be an eternity, we ended up in a town called Cherryville. Now, there is hardly any name down here pronounced like a yankee would say it and Cherryville is no exception. You say this like that seldom used herb, chervil. So there we were in podunk NC and I was STARVING. Luckily, we found an Italian place so we took a chance.

Upon entering, we should have known it would be pretty good. There were lots of tables and almost every one had at least one very large man sitting at it. And the food was good. But the funniest thing was our waiter. I think he was only 16yo or something. No, he was probably older, but he looked very young. He appeared to be so very scared of us. I am not sure why. He was really nice and polite, but it seemed like his first day. (ski: He reminded me of "Bleeker" from Juno) These were some of our interactions:

me: What are the specials? (I noticed a board out front....)
the waiter: Ummm......Well, there is salmon, trout, chicken and ravioli.
me (thinking): uh, that was about all I could remember from that board. Hey....it isn't Carabba's and I guess he's not trying to sell the entrees.

me: What kind of salad dressing do you have?
Waiter: Oh, you know...ummmmm
me: Do you have French?
Waiter: Sure!!

later....
Waiter: Is the food ok? (this he said like he was afraid to ask)
Ski: Yes, it's great. Thank you.
Waiter: Oh.....(huge sigh of relief) Great!! (ski: maybe the chef was putting fake bugs in the food that night (= )

still later...
waiter: Would you like a box?
Ski: Yes. That would be great!
waiter: What about dessert?
Ski: No, I don't think so.
Waiter: Oh.....ok

Then he brought us our check and boxes, but we sat there a little longer. At one point, he directed us to the front where the check out was. Maybe he got to go home after we left. IDK. It was open later and no one was waiting for a seat. It was kind of funny. Anyway, his tentative demeanor really made me giggle. The funniest thing was less than five minutes after we left this culinary adventure, we came upon a bunch of different restraunts that we could have selected from. But, all in all, getting lost gave us plenty of time to talk and laugh. All I can say is that it was so much better than The Athens and free jello experience.

(ski: final comment--my leftover stuffed shells were MUCH more delicious the next day. Not sure if the sauce marinated more or if I was just less piggy and didn't have a meal beforehand. Urp!)