Wine and Jazz
I just got off the phone with an exceedingly pleasant lady named Vicky. Vicky works at Longwood Gardens. They're hosting a wine and jazz festival this coming June. I had first called her yesterday to ask how many tickets remained since the website said there may be a high likelihood that it might sell out.
I inquired yesterday about just how many tickets were left. She replied with the standard, "One moment while I bring that up on the computer."
While we waited I tossed in some idle banter. "You know at first I thought it said wine and jazzercise."
She laughed. I laughed. She then replied, "Okay, there are approximately 700 tickets left. Would you like to purchase one?"
I explained to her that I needed to hold off until after midnight on Sunday night to buy the ticket as that was when my budget reset. She replied, "Well good for you for sticking to your budget." I thanked her for the compliment. She sounded a little older, maybe middle aged. Probably happily married. I wonder if before she met her husband and became a nice middle aged lady she had once told a boy in her younger years as they were breaking up that she was only using him for sex. It's possible. But at the moment that I met her for the first time in my 33 years and her... Maybe 55 or so-ish years... Our interaction was pleasant.
If we'd both been 25 when we met at a bar sipping on beers eyeing each other up, perhaps our interaction would have been different. A lot of our interactions between the people we meet are defined by when and where we meet. What role we're in when we meet. The customer and the employee. The stranger to stranger. The car accident bystander that helped a victim. The one thing you can't decide is when and where you meet someone for the first time. Someone that meets me 6 months from now will see a different person than someone that met me 6 months ago. 6 months ago my mom was terminally ill and on her deathbed.
6 months from now I'll have... Stuffed pockets. With more money than I currently know what to do with. I'll be a free flowing wine and jazz festival attending 33 year old just drifting through life trying to finish my first book and stealing a kiss here or there from a girl or two trying to find that one girl that all those happily married people rave about how they were at the museum when they were standing beside Mr. or Mrs. Right ogling the painting of a sailing ship lost in the storm. The lone captain in the yellow raincoat unsure of which way to steer the boat... Until finally another ship in the distance flickers its lights and the two lost ships finally unite.
So I called back today and about 650 tickets now remained. There are 5000 tickets total, they are running low on the ticket amount. I'll purchase mine tonight after midnight. She assured me that she felt there would still be a ticket left. She also applauded me again on my conviction towards fiscal responsibility. Maybe she has a daughter or son that are the exact opposite and she wishes they would be more willing to stick to a similar personal monetary policy.
Hopefully come June I'll be singing and swinging along with some jazz at Longwood Gardens on a warm late spring/almost summer day. And with any luck I'll accidentally bump into a girl holding a glass of wine and I'll apologize to her for making her spill it and then proceed to buy her another glass. And she'll say that it's really ok and that I don't have to do that. And I'll insist and compliment her on her eyes. And she'll blush and say "Are you sure?"
And I'll say... "Yes. I have no reservations about buying you a glass of wine, and if you're willing, I'd like the chance to buy you another one." And she'll say, "Well... I'm actually here with my boyfriend, so, I have to decline that offer."
And I'll reply with an, "Oh. I understand." And I'll turn to walk away, embarrassed at my only attempt to hit on a girl all day while standing there awkwardly alone at the festival checking my phone and responding to girls on the dating site.
Then as I start to walk away, a girl slightly tipsy on a good amount of wine will stop me and, "Hey wait."
"Yes?" An incredibly cute girl TOTALLY my type will be standing there before me.
"That was sweet. What you said to her... I thought that was so cute. I'd take have taken you up on that offer if I were single."
"Oh." I reply. Ready to just get in my car and head back home. Wondering why I waste my time and money with these stupid events anyways. And I'll just be angry and annoyed at all the stupid love birds out there wondering how they actually ever meet someone in the first place let alone fall in love and get married. "Well anyways I'm going to go.."
"Wait. Sorry. I was going to offer if you wanted to come meet some of my friends. I saw you earlier. One of them is single."
I hesitate. "Okay. Sure." Then I think to myself, why are you looking at me if you have a boyfriend? Turns out she isn't really in love with him. The sex is good though. And they have known one another so long that breaking up never works. They always end up blowing up one another's hotline blings, Drake style. But the problem is he just refuses to propose to her. And every time she pushes it. He breaks up with her. And then she downs a bottle of wine and tells him to go fuck himself.
They're back together a week later. Anyways, her friend isn't AT ALL my type. But I sit next to her and buy her and all her friends a glass of wine because... Then we friend one another on Facebook drunkenly. Later on as I head back to my car me and that girl make out.
Vicky walks to her car and sees us in the distance thinking. Aww, I remember when Dan used to kiss me like that. Because for some reason her husband is named Dan.
She doesn't realize it's the same guy she spoke with on the phone about budgeting. She thinks me and that girl are in love. We're not. I'm not really even all that attracted to her... It's just the alcohol. Alcohol has that effect on people. So does distance.
To steal a lyric from the song 'Such Great Heights' by The Postal Service...
"Everything looks perfect from far away."
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