I don't know how many people out there are still reading me...judging from the recent lack of commentary, I'm guessing not very many...but to whomever IS out there, bear with me today, because I'm feeling a little bit broken-hearted and sentimental.
For the past couple of years, Thursday nights have been Girls' Night Out with some of my close friends. Not every week...but every other Thursday or so, a handful of us thirtysomethings (and sometimes Krystal) would line up at the bar at Othello's around 8:30 or 9 and close the place down with our trusted and much-beloved bartender, Lee. We drink wine and share appetizers and catch up with each other, often discussing our kids and relationships and what's happening in the world. Sometimes there are just 2 or 3 of us, usually 5 or 6, though we've had as many as a dozen. However many we numbered, Lee was always waiting for us with a smile, and he knew to put our water in cognac glasses to make it pretty. He always put extra cherries in my club special and knew how I liked my pizza. When our wine glasses approached empty, he would quietly appear in front of us, raising an eyebrow in question. With a nod or a shake of the head, he would refill the glass or bring coffee, without making us so much as pause in our conversation. We flirted shamelessly with him, both individually and en masse, and he would smile and blush, which made us laugh...but he always took our teasing in stride. Sometimes he flirted back, but he was always careful to toe the line and remain appropriate--at least reasonably so. He didn't talk much, and what little we knew about him, we had to drag out of him, but every once in awhile he would open up and throw his two cents into our chatter. Best of all, when our husbands or boyfriends would show up at our sides, he would treat them like old friends, but never uttered a word about our sometimes personal Thursday Girl talk. I can honestly say, he understood what was sacred.
Today, I found out our Lee is moving on, and I know I'm not alone in my sadness. He tended to us well, and will be sorely missed by us all. Thursday nights won't ever be quite the same!
