Tonight I am grateful for friends who allowed me to serve as a third wheel without complaint or consternation.
I started the day by playing a round of golf with a friend and his wife. A lot of fun and considerably less strange than what was to come.
In the evening, I joined friends who were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary for dinner (though I didn’t know it at the time). With my wife attending class and planning to join us later and the other couple scheduled to join us more than an hour late, I found myself sitting across the table from friends who were celebrating 25 years of marriage.
Just me and them. Almost interview style.
When I finally realized the awkwardness of the situation (which took me a lot longer than it should have), I offered to go down the street and get some Mexican fast food, but they insisted that I stay. The waiter made the evening even more awkward by lingering at the table longer than necessary (forcing my friend to tell him at one point that he was no longer needed) and splitting my entrée onto two plates, as if he couldn’t quite believe that I might be there on my own.
While the evening was slightly awkward for all involved (and exceptionally awkward for me), I like to think it was at least memorable.
But this might just be me attempting to mitigate the awkwardness of the situation.
