{"id":534,"date":"2008-06-17T06:31:41","date_gmt":"2008-06-17T10:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=534"},"modified":"2008-06-17T22:49:38","modified_gmt":"2008-06-18T02:49:38","slug":"bar-hopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=534","title":{"rendered":"Bar Hopping"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you remember the 2002 movie – Bar Hopping<\/em><\/strong> – that Steven Cohen directed and Tom Arnold and others starred in?\u00c2\u00a0 Are you a bar hopper?\u00c2\u00a0 I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m much of a one…at least I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have said that until I retired. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Since I left the full-time world of work I have myself surrounded from time to time with those who like to frequent bars.\u00c2\u00a0 Not sure what that says about me but, nevertheless, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where I find myself sometime. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Recently I went on a trip for a few days on my own to help some friends decorate a new place they have built in Tennessee.\u00c2\u00a0 We unloaded things and I settled in decorating with things I collected from a number of different places.\u00c2\u00a0 All total I spent $31 on this effort, so you can imagine there was lots given to me as well as things that I had in the closet gathering dust.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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My task was to decorate three bedrooms like an 1800\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brothel, two baths and a shower area.\u00c2\u00a0 I spent the evening and pretty much all the next few days focused on that. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The blacksmith came by to see how it was going and asked if I would like to get a beer or two at some of his favorite watering holes.\u00c2\u00a0 Since I knew little about the area, I took him up on his offer and we found ourselves going out that night with one of our 25 year old Mexican friends who came to visit. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Envision this.\u00c2\u00a0 One older – and very distinguished white – man with a long white beard and overhauls, a young and very energetic Mexican man and a 56 year old white woman who was worn out before she started. We were in a small town – heading for a smaller one on the Kentucky\/Tennessee border.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

First one was quiet and not much happening.\u00c2\u00a0 The owner was a friendly guy and after talking and having a drink or two we moved on to another one.\u00c2\u00a0 The next one was really busy, lots of friends obviously gathering for some fun after work, folks playing pool, and Karaoke was going full blast. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Now I am a sucker for Karaoke so it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t long before I was singing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Red Neck Woman\u00e2\u20ac\u009d – an appropriate song considering we were definitely in Tennessee country.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There were some really nice folks there and I enjoyed hearing them tell stories and sharing a few of mine with them. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, our young friend watches pool and eventually winds up being able to play against the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153champion\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the evening.\u00c2\u00a0 Turns out our young friend is a very good pool player and doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lose for some eight rounds…so, needless to say, we had a few beers watching while we talked to the locals. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

My bearded friend knew just about everyone in that bar…and if he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t…by the end of the many hours we were there, he had met them.\u00c2\u00a0 Meanwhile, I soaked up the conversation while carefully nursing my beer since I was the one driving. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Also turns out that our young friend had a knack for making little boats out of one dollar bills.\u00c2\u00a0 He made me one and next thing we knew he was making them for all the guys in the bar. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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I still enjoy seeing the one I have on my desk and I remember fondly that night. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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By the end of the evening I had been to almost all of the local watering holes, watched many a pool game, and heard many a story.\u00c2\u00a0 I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say I would have ever done that – or even known where they all were – had my friend not taken me.\u00c2\u00a0 However, I now know much about the local flavor of the community he lives in…and I dare say the next time I go with him I will be greeted by my newfound friends whose life stories will continue to be enriched by those they meet there to share a bit of life with.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

My wish for you today<\/strong> is that you surround yourselves with others whether it be in a bar or somewhere else.\u00c2\u00a0 If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re willing to listen as well as to share a bit of your life with them, you just may find you all the richer for it. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

~ Joellen<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you remember the 2002 movie – Bar Hopping – that Steven Cohen directed and Tom Arnold and others starred in?\u00c2\u00a0 Are you a bar hopper?\u00c2\u00a0 I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m much of a one…at least I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have said that until I retired. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,22,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-familyfriends-gatherings","category-friendship","category-living-life-to-the-fullest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}