Give me Sanctuary.

Got to relive some glory days the other night at a reunion for the club where me and The Sarge met.  Had it not been for Sanctuary, there would be no Moo, no Slim, no Geel, no Confessions.  I had been thinking about a lot of things leading up to Friday night and several times wandered around to how much things have changed.  I decided to list a few on the way there:

Sanctuary Reunion, it'll be good to go back. 
5 things that are different tonight:
5. Driving 4 hours just to be "in the area"
4. Leaving the kids with the sitter. 
3. Driving up with the other half, instead of the old crew. 

2. Knowing there will be no 3 am breakfast at the diner later.
1. Trying to remember all the "stuff" (cash, ID, directions, etc.) Are we old enough for Alzheimers already?! wtf?

5 things that are the same (about the old days, and decidedly different from my everyday life now) :
5. Makeup.
4. Having a drink.
3. Changing in the car on the way. (OK, it was only my boots, but thank God I remembered to bring that other pair. When the hell did i get to be so practical?)
2. Pleasure/Fashion/Style vs. Pain (see above-that first pair of boots was killing me before i even got there)
1. Dancing my ass off to some kicking music!
See you all on the floor!

The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary

Of course there are more things.  I mean, the fact that I posted this (1)on the event page on (2)facebook, (3)in the car (4)on the way there, from my (5)smartphone is it's own self-contained list.  

A few other things occurred to me after the fact.   For one thing, talking to or at or over three kids and the TV quite regularly--with the "occasional" screaming rant thrown in--doesn't even come close to a few straight hours of conversational yelling above the din of a nightclub full of many loud people and extremely loud music.  There was a minor snafu involving the weather that postponed the 9:00 pm start time to 10:30.  In just that hour and a half, before we even got upstairs to get the festivities underway, I was talking so much to various friends, old acquaintances and familiar faces, that my throat was bone dry and sore before I ever stepped out on the dance floor and worked up a sweat.  And speaking of sweat, it became clear to me halfway through the night that I should have trained for several weeks before attempting to dance like I used to three nights a week with no problem.

Some things stayed blessedly the same.  Like my many-years-long friendships with my crew.  Although we live kinda far apart, and our respective Lives have pulled us in different directions, it was such a GREAT feeling to see them and know that there is still some love out there--no matter the distance.  We talked like old times, danced just like back in the day.  There was a comfort in the old familiarity between friends.
    

That was by far the best part of the night.  Other highlights include not breaking anything or pulling any muscles, not getting any emergency calls from the sitter and not drinking enough to get a hangover.  Good times.  They most definitely were Friday night as in years before and I think everyone who went would love to do it again.  As for The Sarge and me, we didn't "close the joint" this time, but if there is a next time, I'll train harder and stay longer.  It was our first real night away from all three kids.  Give me Sanctuary, again and again.