Yesterday, I got home early from work, so I took John Patrick for a stroll down to Bongo Java, a coffee shop on Belmont Boulevard a little less than a mile from our house. It was a glorious late afternoon, with temperatures in the sixties. It had been ages since he and I had strolled down there, since we haven't had much warm weather lately. It was nice to get back outside with him. As I waited for my coffee, I couldn't help but notice how much bigger he is than when we would stroll down there so often last summer and fall. Time is passing so quickly.
After Jude arrived home from work, we decided to eat dinner, as a family, at Mirror, a restaurant in our neighborhood on 12th Avenue, owned and operated by our friends, Michael and Colleen DeGregory. Recently, they decided to stop allowing smoking in the restaurant, which meant we could take John Patrick there for dinner. We arrived before the dinner rush and chatted with Stephanie Johnson, our friend and, incidentally, the #1 bartender in the Nashville Scene's 2008 reader's poll.
We took a seat near the bar, ordered our meal, then began to unpack John Patrick's dinner (Gerber's chicken with apples, Gerber's carrots, Goldfish crackers and bread). We laughed as he stared intently at Stephanie, working behind the bar. He was entranced, as she mixed drinks, poured beer and wine, washed glasses, etc. He followed her, with his eyes, from one end of the bar to the other. As she was making a martini, she started shaking the mixer, with ice inside it. He liked the noise. He stared at her some more, then started mimicking her, holding his hand up and shaking it. It was hysterical.
Laughing, Stephanie started waving to him and to our surprise, he waved back at her! We've been trying, for weeks, to teach him to wave, but haven't had any luck. It was awesome! The rest of the night, she'd wave at him and he'd wave back. A milestone moment, for sure.
We had a wonderful meal and a really great night out. As we prepared to leave, Jude and I agreed - these are indeed the salad days.
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