The kissing bandit

This weekend I was reminded of a story that I cannot believe I haven’t shared with you guys. It’s one of intrigue, humor, and a few sloppy kisses. One that I am kind of embarrassed to tell you about, but one that is definitely worth sharing…

Setting, New York City, NY. The year is 2007. I had officially been divorced a little over two years. At the time I was dating Mr. Buckeye, but we were on the verge of parting ways. Nine of my closest gal pals and I headed to the Big Apple to celebrate half of our group turning 40. The other half, were still young bucks and barely out of our mid thirties, but I won’t boast!

We rented a two story town home whose showers were disgusting, stairs creeked, and had furntire that hadn’t been cleaned in years. But we didn’t care…we were there to celebrate and have fun. We went with the notion that what happens in NYC, stays in NYC. Keep in mind eight of us were married, one was pregnant and only two of us were single. We didn’t get to wild and crazy!

All in all we were well behaved. Nothing happened outside of some harmless flirting, obnoxious giggling, and a few crazy nights out on the town. Our weekend consisted of a Broadway show, some fine dining, shopping, Times Square, bra fittings, and some definite celebrity stalking. Unfortunately the only celebrity we saw was Brian Glazer. I know, I know, you’re probably asking “who the heck is he”? I for the life of me don’t know why I knew who he was, because at that time the only credit to his name was producing “Friday Night Lights.” Which I love. Now, a few years later, he has produced movies such as Robin Hood and TV series as Parenthood and 24. But No one knew who he was then…so I guess you could say that we really didn’t see any celebrities. A few weeks later, however, my friend Jane ended up going back for a weekend in NYC with her husband and ran into my lover, Ryan Reynolds…lucky bitch.

Anywho…one night out in the city we went to a nice dinner, a club, and ended up at a little pub to close down the evening. All in all I felt kind of old, but I didn’t give a crap because I was just there to have fun!

By the time we got to the little pub, we had had some cocktails under our belts and were having a blast. We were being hit on left and right by the young boys. I’m not gonna lie, it was fun, harmless, but fun! I seem to remember some dancing on the tables, and a little cat fight between sisters, but that was the boring part of the evening…for me, anyway.

I decided to separate myself from the group and go meet some of the other gentlemen suitors in the bar. My girlfriends were all married or in committed relationships. I was the only one who was actually on the verge of ending a relationship at home. I didn’t want to waste one opportunity, so I came up with a strategy. My strategy for the evening was to meet as many men as possible. Surely there would be one guy in the bar that was worth my time…hmmm…

So I grabbed my camera and off I went. The first guy I met was nice, but not my type…I snapped a picture with him to remember the moment and moved on. The second guy…not even a vague memory of him. It wasn’t until I got to the third guy that I had the brilliant idea of getting to know the other gentlemen at the bar by kissing them and then snapping their picture with me. I know it probably sounds gross to you guys, but it was by far the most fun I had had in a long time!

I have pictures galore of that evening and laugh every time I see them. I felt invigorated, free and for once, like the cool girl at the party.

I try not to think beyond that moment of the evening, because it just makes me want to go take a shower.