Age check!

Besides the fact that I'm excited about the new season of Meerkat Manor due August 10 (it was, after all, the subject of my first blogs), I've found that I can be out of my element in more ways than one.

This past week I attended the national conference of the Romance Writers of America. It took place in Dallas and therefore was a mere trip down the highway for me. I parked my car at son 1's house rather than pay the $18 per diem at the hotel, and promised to buy dinner for the sons and spouses Thursday/Friday night.

Thursday night I dined with son 2. There are three tapas bars in his neighborhood and since they'd tried two of them, it was deemed appropriate to try the third on my dime. This was fine with me as I'd never been to such and felt I needed a guide for the experience anyway. We ordered a pitcher of sangrias and 6 appetizer portions ranging from salad to cheese to seafood to meatballs to an omelet. Dessert was an apple tart. While I enjoyed them all, I'd take a big plate of the shrimp/crabcakes any day. Yum!

But the interesting part was the crowd. The bar was doing a brisk afterwork business consisting mainly of lovely young women in their late 20s and early 30s, with a few men thrown in. The tables were occupied by couples (no one at the bar was interested in eating) or groups of single women. I took a break from scarfing the crabcakes to have a look around. Hmmm... I was greatly outnumbered.

In fact, had it not been for the white-haired couple sitting to our left, I would have been the oldest female there! Outside of a library children's program, I don't think that had happened to me before. Eek! And not only was I second oldest, I was second oldest by a generation.

Oh my. Age check!