The Watering Hole

Diddy and I are convinced that our collective tabs pay the mortgage at our favorite Charlotte bar. I am not saying that we are the only patrons. It is a popular place - don’t get me wrong. It is just that we are always there. After hours, happy hour, any hour. It calls to us when we are at home doing chores (aka, sleeping on the couch). It calls to us when we cheat on it and try to go to a different bar. It calls to us at 11:00 in the afternoon on a workday so that we have to email and text everyone in a flurry to make sure our happy hour plans are still intact for 6:00 that evening.

Diddy and I value dedication and loyalty. They are important traits in friends, men, and dogs. But perhaps we have developed a problem. Here are a few reasons why:

• We know more about the personal lives of the staff than we do about our own families


• People are constantly saying “I see you here all of the time” which means (a) They are also there all of the time, and (b) We now seem approachable to a bunch of drunks – bar regulars are always drunks.


• We are bar regulars


• We have begun to think of our Watering Hole as our personal living room. We are too comfortable: We talk loudly, make fun of people, put our feet on the furniture, play card games, dance in places not designated for dancing, play the same songs over and over on the juke box, and sing along loudly to these songs while pointing and winking suggestively at strangers.

Although we sometimes wake up embarrassed and ashamed of our public display of affection towards our Watering Hole, we are sure to return next week only to do it all over again.