Save your money and your memories of fun nights with your friends.
By Gregg Michaelsen — Written on May 28, 2015
A reader sent me an email that reminded me of an enlightening night I had a few years back. We will call it a few years back, but it might have been 25 -- pota-"toe," po-"tah"-to.
It was Saturday night, and we were having a birthday celebration for one of my best friends. We got a limo, lined up a VIP table at a top club in Boston, and went to it. One problem -- I was sick as a dog! I mean high fever and basically curled up in the fetal position in the corner of my living room. I was weeping at the thought of having to go out.
Stay in? Not an option! If you knew my friends you would understand why. They would have shown up at my condo, hog tied me, and thrown me in the limo trunk.
So, I joined them, 101 temperature and all. I did not drink and, whoa, was I in for a surprise! As the night progressed, I witnessed my friends go from semi-normal men into crazed aliens from another planet! Three of them started doing the worm on the dance floor, and yes, one of them started licking the stilettos of a woman whose feet were close to where he was doing the worm on the dance floor.
I mean really?
The sad part is they were wondering why I was not out there with them! Obviously, they had forgotten that I was ill (or didn’t care), but the fact that they were surprised that I wasn’t licking shoes while doing the worm on the dance floor bothered me even more!
That meant that, had I not been sick, this is what I would be doing, and this is how foolish I would have looked doing it! OMG! Is this really what we look like when we go out on a Saturday night and start drinking alcohol by the 55 gallon drum?
Now, granted, most of us fit right in because most other 20 somethings were just as drunk as we were, but that doesn’t make it cool or right, does it? I only wish I had a cell phone with a video camera back then so I could show them the next morning just how foolish, albeit funny, they looked!
Did it stop me from drinking? No. But it might have slowed me down just enough to save my liver and all my brain cells, and it left an indelible mark on me. I thought about what I may have missed through all these years. I mean, I know I missed a lot of memories because we were all so drunk. I also bet I missed out on meeting a great woman here and there because I was so busy “doing the worm.”
My point is this -- try taking my dare, and see if this is how you want to be remembered by a sober person on a Saturday night. Remember, now, we all have cell phones recording all the time! Can you say, “Hi Mom!”