A Quaint Display Of Furious Enthusiasm

You live long enough you get to see people celebrate just about everything, from birthdays and Bat Mitzvahs to graduations or being granted parole.

Just about anything can be cause for celebration, and there are people out there who carry out their celebrations with maximum zeal.

Take for example the guy I met the other night at the bar where MJM and I were watching game 5 of the Warriors/Rockets playoffs. He had just moved in with his girlfriend and was at the bar to celebrate that fact. 

He told MM & I they had rented a nice one bedroom place at the large apartment complex across the street and he had just unloaded the last box out of his truck.

His girlfriend wasn't at the bar with him, he explained, because she had to work. 

But he didn't, so he had decided to walk over to the bar and have a few drinks to mark, as he said countless times in the few hours we were there, his "final ascent into adulthood!"

A phrase that made me wince a wee bit every time he said it - or more accurately, shouted it.

Truth be told, there was also a little envy in me whenever he repeated the phrase, too, as I can remember, somewhat, the first time I ever moved in with a woman. It did indeed make me feel as if I had climbed a few rungs up the ladder of adulthood.

Though, also truth be told, it didn't really make me feel like much of an adult.

This guy in the bar was far more enthusiastic about moving in with his girlfriend than I can remember being (I mean, sure, I was happy, but not buy-everybody-in-the-bar-multiple-shots happy). 

He continually stated to everyone in earshot (which was everyone in the bar) that he was finally a "grown-ass man" and was going to be adulting the hell out of things now,

He must of bought 4 or 5 rounds of shots for the 12 or so of us that were in the area of the bar he had settled in, and with every shot he knocked back he seemed to get just a little happier, and a lot louder.

However...after the fourth or fifth round (I have no idea of the actual number, just guessing here), a young woman wearing a servers outfit from one of the local restaurants walked in and headed right over to the young celebrant.

Nothing she was saying to him could be overheard amidst the din of conversations and music that filled the bar, but I looked at MJM and he looked back at me and we both nodded in silent agreement that whatever it was probably wasn't good, as the guy stopped his celebrating right away, and when the girl turned round and started walking out, he followed right behind her after paying his tab, head down like a scolded dog.

"Now that," I said to MJM, "Is pretty much the reality of ascending into adulthood."

MJM nodded his head in agreement and we raised our glasses in a toast of commiseration.