Saturday, December 29, 2007

Awkward Moments at an Otherwise Enjoyable Dinner Party

Last night, my wife and I journeyed off to my friend's house where he and his wife cooked dinner for us and two other couples. The food, prepared by the host who is a chef, was excellent, and the night was a lot of fun. But after dinner things got a little weirdish.

One couple, who I've known for a long time but I'm not really tight with, is, shall we say, dysfunctional. They've been together for about 14 years and had a child together at a young age. They've got their problems, like every couple does, though admittedly their problems are probably more substantial than most. But I won't get into that here.

Anywho, the otherwise enjoyable dinner party got rather awkward after the wife in this couple had a bit too much to drink and started letting loose her already potent mouth. For about a half hour the conversation between the eight of us seemed to keep coming back to her problems with her husband-- his poor diet, his weight gain, and on and on until we somehow get entangled with the subject of girls he slept with when he was younger and other similar personal issues. At this point, her husband is visibly frustrated with his wife, blushing, trying to clarify his actions, and was clearly ready to leave. But she kept jumping on his case over and over.

For the rest of us, we had some laughs at first, but after a few minutes of this bash-session, we all got uncomfortable and quiet as the rampage went on. We tried to deflect things or change the subject, but inevitably it came back to hearing about the problems she has with him. And from what I understand, this goes on all the time with them. Finally they realized they had to go and pick up their daughter from the babysitter. This came as a sigh of relief to all of us, I think.

Lesson learned: don't air your dirty laundry in front of your friends... especially after engaging in an otherwise enjoyable dinner!

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