I Suck At Strawberry Fair

On Friday, Karen and I ended up having an unexpected date night. Earlier in the week, my friend's (Cass) birthday celebration was quickly thrown together within the course of a few days. So unfortunately, Karen and I felt a little rushed in having a present ready and available for Cass at his birthday celebration.

Cass would not have minded had we shown up without a present, but it was the principle of it all. After all, Karen and I hardly see Cass as it is. So it could well be into September or October before he received his birthday present. And really, who likes to receive birthday presents past their birthday?

Needless to say, Karen and I did some scrambling around the South Shore after work for Cass's present on Friday. When all was said and done, we did end up finding Cass his present. Of course, in the mad scramble we had to eat dinner.

For those who know me, I eat a lot. (After all, look at me...) When I start to feel hungry, it is a bad sign. Anyway, Karen and I ended up having dinner at Strawberry Fair in Norwell. Now, I suck at Strawberry Fair.

I have not been to Strawberry Fair in quite some time. The last time I went may have been with my parents. But seeing as how the restaurant was featured in the Zip Trip segment of Fox Morning News not too long ago, I figured it would be nice to go there again.

As usual, the food was delicious. I had the Thanksgiving turkey sandwich (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound). Karen had ordered a small salad. Interestingly enough, a large salad was brought out for Karen. It turns out that Strawberry Fair likes to try to get rid of its food near closing time. Granted, we were there around 8:30pm... but the place was rather empty. Karen and I were practically the only ones there at the time.

There was one elderly couple from North Carolina that had previously been seated near us. The elderly man was up from North Carolina to attend his high school reunion. He graduated from Scituate. It's amazing what you can learn from a little eaves dropping. But it was cute.

Of course, hearing about this elderly man's reunion naturally got me thinking about my own reunion. I was pretty amazed that it has been almost 20 (okay, 17) years since I graduated from high school. It seems so long ago. In fact, I even contemplated attending the next reunion... should it be planned.

Since graduating high school, I had never attended a reunion. My high school class planned a fifth and tenth year reunion... and that has been it thus far. Had I known how inept my fellow classmates were in planning these things, I would probably never have elected them to their class office positions. Damn that thing called popularity. That same stupid high school popularity thing got "Oh, what a night" elected as my prom theme. Who thought that was a good idea?

Anyway, I did not attend the fifth year reunion based on the fact that it was useless. For most everyone I knew at the time, they had gone to college and been out one year. There's not a whole lot to catch up on if you ask me.

For the tenth year reunion, I teeter tottered a little because I thought ample time had passed. Eventually, I decided against going because the reunion was held at a bar. (Again, if I knew how inept my classmates were in planning these things...)

As well, my rational side got the better of me for the tenth year when I started to think about how I'm good with not seeing anyone from high school. The ones I do see from high school... I want to see... because they are my friends. I don't really need to see anyone else. (I guess that's also one of my main reasons for not being a big Facebook supporter. Facebook "friends" are not really friends. Plus, after learning how Facebook has ties to the evil empire known as Microsoft only makes me dislike Facebook more.)

Anyway, dinner with Karen was great. I sometimes feel like we don't have date nights as often as we should. I realize part of that is my problem. Since my son (Braden) passed away in September, I have had many mood swings. Among those swings is a stretch where I lack motivation to do anything. So unfortunately, I do get caught up in doing nothing... a lot.