The Beginning of “We”

As more stories are posted, you will see a trend that “we” will usually include Donna, myself, Chris, and Shaun, or some combination thereof. This is the story of our first outing together and explains how we met.

Donna and I are easy to explain as we are married. Chris is also as simple, since he & I have know each other since the 5th grade when he “narc’ed” on me to the vice principal. Since I try to be fair and honest, I will interrupt myself just as Chris would do at this point.

Chris (whining) – “He was shooting me with darts.” {Straight pins with paper feathers shot out of a home made hand sized blow gun}.

Which I was, but that is beside the point. Chris broke the rules of playground. The great part from my perspective was Chris was also busted and yelled at by the Vice principal too. Karma is sweet!

Anyways, I won 4 tickets to see “Better than Ezra” at St. Andrews theater and invited Chris and his wife to go. It really wasn’t something that Chris’s wife was interested in & they couldn’t find a babysitter, so she wasn't going. Thus, I had an extra ticket. I was unable to find just one person that wanted to go. I then remembered Shaun.

Shaun is the son of our close friends, Viv & Alan. Viv & Alan are retired a British couples that are a blast. There will be more stories involving them later. Anyways, Donna & I had met Shaun at Viv & Alan’s house a couple of times when they had parties. I figured that he was around our age, so might like the band, plus he was single. I called introduced myself, explained the situation, and he agreed to go.

I picked Shaun up and was going to drive him home after the concert. Chris met us at our house and we drove into the city in one car. We were there early, so we stopped and had a few beers. Donna had brought a flask, so we decided to fill it up and sneak it in. We went into a liquor store down the block and purchased some Rum, tequila, and Jagermiester. Note the Jager was purely Chris’s idea. I think we filled the flask with the jager and put the pints of tequila and rum in our pants/coats. As we walked back to St. Andrews to get in line, we accidentally stepped in front of a taxi. The taxi stopped, but the driver began cussing us out in a foreign language as he drove off. Shaun being the refined gentleman he is, yelled “This is America. Speak English, you dam foreigner!” Since Shaun is a British citizen, not American, the rest of us found this quite funny.

We get in line and slowly begin to move it St. Andrews. As we get near the front, we see that they are checking for alcohol. Momentary panic sets in, but I realize that we are the oldest people here, so decide to chance it. Sure enough, they look at us “old folks” and just wave us through.

Now, before I go further, I just want to clarify a few things. First, Donna was driving home, since I planned on drinking. Second, I was working swing shifts, so didn’t have to work the next day. I think this was a Wednesday night. Due to these to factors, I was drinking heavily. This should put the rest of the story in the proper light.

The evening is a bit fuzzy, but this is what I do remember....

1. St. Andrews is a great venue. No seating, just an open floor with a stage, plus a balcony going around the perimeter.

2. Beer was expensive, but that is why we brought the flask and pints. Planning ahead pays off!

3. Music was great.

4. People watching was better.

5. The mosh pit was the best I had been in. Yes, I went into the Pit. I love mosh pits, but I was a good husband. I asked my wife if she minded me going. She said no. Then I asked her if she want to go also. She said “No, F*CKING Way!” I handed her my glasses. She made sure she had the medical insurance cards, gave me a kiss, and said had fun. I asked Shaun and Chris if they wanted to go. They looked at me as if I had grown a second head and vehemently shook their heads no. Bunch of wussy’s. It was fun. I think. I was very sore the next day and had a few bruises, so I am pretty sure I had fun.

6. Someone lost the flask. No one remembers who had it, but they all blame me. I think it’s a conspiracy.

7. Leaving the concert, I felt great. I was long gone out of the “Buzz Zone” and into the “Obnoxious, Moronic Zone”. I remember leaping up and slamming my fist into a street sign, while screaming “Yeaaaahhh!” Not sure why I did this, but I trust myself, so I had to have a good reason at the time. According to the rest of the group it did have a good outcome. Apparently there were a couple of homeless guys coming over to bum for money. After my little outburst, they decided to cross the street and beg there.

8. We were downtown Detroit. I had been a paramedic in Detroit for several years, so I knew my way around, at least when I was sober. Donna kept asking me how to get to I-94. I am not sure why she did this as I kept answering any question with “left, go left” and hitting my head on the window.

That’s all I remember about the night. My wife being the good soul she was drove Shaun home as I couldn’t. She basically had about 2 hrs sleep that night and had to go to work the next morning. Thank God, she is from good Ukraine stock. Chris drove home as he also had to work the next day. He had stopped drinking early, which was good as he was pulled over twice by cops for a burnt out headlight. All in all we had a good time. We also found all four of us like to bar & dives, people watching, and exploring. Thus the four musketeers began their adventures!