For many years now Linda and I just assumed that it was tons of fun to have us around and to be friends with us. I meant who doesn't love to have us over for a night of drinking and dining?
It turns out, what a pain in the ass we are. Who knew?
Last night our Canadian friends had us over for drinks and dinner. We had hosted them a few weeks ago and they had so much fun they wanted to return the favor. Ken and Cheri are from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan so they share that Midwest mentality that Linda and I have, even with the wacky Canadian twist.
They are fun, funny, and typically Canadian polite. All that was tested by us last night as we item by item ruined their plans for dinner. That was when I realized what assholes we must be to others. I also wondered how our Chicago friends put up with us for all those years? Maybe at first they were taken aback too but grew to know us and our weird tastes.
First Cheri brought out a beautiful appetizer plate of shrimp for us and as she is serving it asked us if we liked shrimp? We told her we don't like, or eat seafood. A crushing blow to start the service and one that physically rocked her on her heels. I could see that this was not going to go well.
The main course was steak, which was delicious, and mushrooms. Luckily Linda likes mushrooms but when Cheri began to pass them to me I declined. Her look said, "are you freaking kidding me?" "You don't want mushrooms?" she asked. "I don't like them," I responded. Strike two. Her nervous laugh made me wonder if she had a gun anywhere in the condo.
"Wine?", she wondered hopefully. "Sorry neither of us drinks it" said Linda. Stunned disbelief from Ken and Cheri. Their forced smile tried to hide the thought I knew they were having. "Were these two raised in a barn?" And, three strikes and we were out. I was sad for them because I know that they went out of their way to show us a wonderful evening, and it was.
I haven't checked with them today, so I'm unsure if they still want to be friends with us, and if not, who could blame them. I hope that they will still want to get together because we really do have a great time when we are with them. I'm thinking we either stick to pretzels and chips and salsa, or meet them at a restaurant where everyone can order off a menu.
I apologize for both of us to them for crushing their plans with our picky taste buds. We'll try to be better next time.
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