Being down only means we have to tie on some heavy duty hiking shoes, take a lot of Ibuprofen and start climbing.
We were fortunate to be in possession of a gift card to a local German restaurant. Of all ethnic foods, German is my least favorite, but I will enjoy anything someone else is actually paying for.
I truly wish I could have captured the look on Roger's face when we arrived at the restaurant and were met with Polka music. My husband is NOT a fan of "entertainment type" meals. The exception to this is the "show" at Japanese steakhouses. A huge plus to the Japanese steakhouse is they don't sing. If that ever becomes a thing I think he will not patronize them further.
Anyway....Polka was a'playin' as we entered and, lucky us! They seated us right in front of the "stage"! On stage was a husband and wife team. She was wearing Pippi Longstockings tights with Mary Jane shoes, a plaid skirt and sweater combo. Her hair had been sprayed (or dyed) a most unusual shade of red. She played the accordion. The accordion is fascinating to me....they look very complicated and heavy to play. Her husband was suitably attired and playing what Roger kept referring to as a Flueglehorn and every now and then he sang. My husband has traveled pretty extensively so I asked if that was the way Germans sang. Stoically, he replied, "No, that is the way Louie Armstrong sings."
To complete the band were 2 pre-school age children who spent the majority of the evening running through the restaurant, screaming and laughing and traumatizing customers. Now and then, they performed as well and I have to admit the sight of the two vunder kinder doing The Chicken Dance was pretty entertaining. They were not quite as charming trying to Polka as it caused them to have artistic differences in their delivery.
ARE YOU SMELLING THE ROMANCE IN OUR EVENING?!
Our prime spot front and center made it impossible to avoid the Polka Band. Since we could be seen, it seemed incumbent on us to applaud vigorously at every opportunity. To make matters worse, the "band" insisted on engaging us in conversation and attempted to make us part of their act. Now, I can totally do those things, but Roger is not easily coerced into "acting". He is pretty shy and likes to remain unseen in public places for the most part.
But, because of our visibility with the performance I felt we were obligated to "tip" the Polka Band. Now, please remember, we had a gift card for the dinner and I had not come prepared to tip both the waiter and the Polka Band. This event led to some extensive serious negotiations with our charming ex-New Yorker waiter in order to come up with a cash appreciation of the entertainment.
Upon receipt of our tip we were asked to please take one of their promotional postcards which I fully expected would have a lot of information regarding their band.
Instead.......I found only a website referenced.....wwwpolkayoureyeout.com
Now we had both had a few glasses of wine and we puzzled over the web address for quite sometimes before tumbling to the fact it said Polka Your Eye Out.
In spite of everything, we actually had a great time and Polka Night taught us that all it takes to enjoy something is to let yourself be open to it. There were at least 3 big negatives about that evening that could have ruined an important event, but instead it turned into great fun and an even better memory for both of us.
It really is all about your attitude. If you decide something is going to be crappy, it.is.going.to.be.crappy.
But, if you decide to just let yourself go, give yourself over, join in the craziness, you just might find out that joy has jumped on the wagon with you.
While we might never purposely choose Polka Night again.....for that night and for the memory it left........Everybody POLKA!
**side note** I have since learned that this group is now referred to as The Itinerant Locals.
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