So we were one of those couples with the giant wedding party – I had two college friends Dave and Tony, my brother in law Tom, Mary’s brother Michael, “our” brother in law Alfred (a story for another time), and my brother Joe as best man. They all took me out for dinner for my bachelor party, along with Mary’s cousin John and my cousins Mike and Alan.
When we got to the restaurant the front person said they didn’t have a large enough table for all of us, but could seat us at multiple tables. Dave helpfully pointed out that would lead to some quite loud conversations, and they were eventually able to seat us all together. Did I mention that the first thing these guys did was to attach a plastic ball and chain to my ankle? Yeah, they did.
So we’re at the table in the restaurant, and everybody’s talking away. Over at the end, Dave and Alan (who had never met before) were deep in conversation. At one point, everyone paused their conversations and we could clearly hear Dave telling Alan, “…three times.” He turned to see everyone looking at him. “THREE TIMES,” he continued more loudly, “Once on the bed, once in the kitchen, and once more in the bathroom.”
I wonder what he was talking about…
(No I don’t, I know what he was talking about. And whom.)
After a satisfying meal and several drinks, we left for a nightclub in town.
Except they wouldn’t let us in. Would you believe? We’d pretty much all been drinking (except Tony, he doesn’t) and I’m running around with a plastic ball and chain on my ankle (still) and yet they somehow didn’t think we were of high enough class for their place.
So we ended up somewhere else, I think. (Parts of this evening are hazier than others…) I remember at one point being in a parking lot, and Tony was in his car, and Dave was pretending to be hit by Tony’s car, and then Tony kind of hit Dave with his car. A bit.
Queue the hazy parts again…
Then I recall standing in Joe’s basement at 2 or 3 AM, playing ping pong (badly) against Cousin Mike. “Just one more,” I remember repeating.
And later, Mary calling Joe wondering where her husband to be happened to be.
I think (from what others tell me) the party was fun. The wedding was a hoot, and the marriage is still.
If memory serves (and yes, hazy depicts quite a bit of that evening) another interesting thing that happened at the restaurant was that the mens rooms was completely dark when we left. Why? Because I unscrewed all the light bulbs in there. Why ? well that’s falls under the Hazy section, but I’m sure I had a very good reason at the time….
Tony (who yes did run into me with his car — a bit) may recall as I think he was in there also.
What a lovely ending. I miss you guys.
Important point: No one was hurt during the party.
Not so important point: Did I ever tell you about what happened on the lower level of the George Washington Bridge as I was driving Dave home? In my new Thunderbird?
Yes, I almost included it in the narrative, but as I wasn’t present I didn’t.