What it is about those words that makes some people have to take the dare? It's always like a big thing when you're a kid, if you get a dare you have to do it or you're a chicken. I readily admit to being a chicken about some things. No failed dare needed. This weekend I received a dare from my best friend. We've been back and forth about getting a certain tattoo (no, not our name or b-days or anything that stupid) and I was kind of the holdout. Not for any real reason, just busy I guess. So she walks me to the outside of a tattoo parlor and dares me to go in and get this tattoo. And I take the bait. It ended up being so much fun because the artist is a guy who has done my tattoos before (and won't be happy until he does one in color) and his wife. It was like some kind of party. Music playing, everyone having a good time. I have to say, as always, he did a damn good job and I can't wait until they heal. On the upside, we both got them in places that our parents shouldn't find out about. Well, not until next summer anyway. So Mom shouldn't beat me immediately. It's an addiction, I tell ya. Once you get one, you start thinking of the next and so on.
On the subject of parents, remember that friend of mine who I coulda been more with (a.k.a. the infamous letter writer)? Well her mom and my uncle are still very much together and came out to visit me this weekend. I went out yesterday to lunch with them and my brother and sister-in-law and nephew. We've all come to terms with the fact that they are a "couple" and they're going to be together a lot of the time. It's worked out kind of perfectly, I guess. They still insist that neither of them wants to get married. She's been married once before, he's never been married and I think it's a good thing they don't wanna be because frankly it takes a lot to "tame" a member of my family. We're all incredibly independent and sometimes it's hard to find someone who can handle that some things don't change. Anyway, we went on an impromptu furniture shopping excursion after lunch because our place needs a new kid-friendly couch. As we're walking around looking at stuff and trying out couches, apparently the elders are having some sort of slight disagreement on the other side of the store. So we all end up sitting on two couches and a chair, in different "rooms" of the store discussing which couch we like. The parents weren't saying much because it's not their living room, it's my living room. Then all of a sudden, my uncle says, rather loudly, "I don't know what the big deal is" towards his...let's say, partner since girlfriend sounds creepy. We all look at him and ask what's going on and she tries to get him to not talk but he does and tells us that he asked her to live together like ten minutes ago while looking at bedroom furniture. And she was, understandably, taken aback and hadn't answered. So here we are sitting in the middle of a furniture store on a Sunday afternoon, first stunned and then saying things like, "Are you crazy?" and "No, this is not gonna happen" to our uncle. Meanwhile, life goes on around us and people are hearing this little family spat. So we leave, couch-less and a little freaked out, and make the long drive back home in almost complete silence.
After the parents left, everyone started to talk about what went down. The conversation was long but I finally concluded to myself that I just don't care. It did bother me when they first got together but now it doesn't. Ironically, it does bother my letter writing friend and she was the one laughing when they started dating. So...whatever they do, I just want them to be happy. Last night I was discussing all this with my best friend and she shook her head and said,"What was he thinking?" and I couldn't help myself. My reply was, "I know...he should have dared her to move in with him."
