and the winner is... (lyn)

I’m having dinner with Gail and her husband Greg at Capital Grille.

A little over a year ago Gail was a memory….someone I had loved working with, someone from whom I’d learned a lot, but someone I no longer knew.  Now, we are in touch every day; we shop online together; we ask each other’s opinions; she helps me immensely with ideas for the new business I am developing; in short, she is an intricate part of my life.  And I can’t imagine it ever being different.

We arrive at the restaurant at 7, and three hours later, we leave.  In between, we never stop eating, laughing, and drinking.  Gail can float away on one Cosmopolitan; it takes me two. 

The calories are listed on the menu, which does help with the ordering.  While Gail and I are mindful of the points we are consuming, Greg is not.  Greg is thin, fit, and a brilliant cardiothoracic doctor.  His eating is more interesting than ours.  While Gail and I start with a dozen oysters (about 10 calories each), Greg chooses a Caesar salad.  “But I thought you don’t like salads, “ I ask.  “This one is okay because it’s mostly white; I don’t like greens.”

Next, Gail and I order steaks.  I get the aged sirloin with a Kona rub and Gail gets the filet.  Greg goes for the Filet Oscar that comes covered in a Béarnaise sauce, asparagus, and “colossal lump crabmeat.”  I remember my weight watchers training and cut my large steak in half; now I'll eat less and have dinner for tomorrow.  Greg also decides to get a side of the restaurant’s signature mac and cheese with bacon.  Gail and I are not even tempted to try it.

For dessert, Gail gets the low-calorie sorbets; I get the 450-caloried crème brulee with berries, and Greg passes.  Every course is outstanding.

Gail and Greg have generously treated me to this wonderful dinner.  The restaurant is on 42^nd Street; they live on 37^th Street; and I’m on 79^th.  Perfect; I can at least drop them off first.  In fact, I send an email before dinner saying that I’m taking them home. 

Dinner ends, and as we are exiting the restaurant, Gail says, “Listen, I have some bad news.”  I immediately know where she is going with this bad news statement, and before I have a chance to say a word, a cab pulls up, Greg admonishes me not to argue (“It’s just not worth it; you are going to lose.”), and Gail and I talk over each other as we give the driver the first stop address.

Even though it makes no geographic sense, the driver takes me home first.  Greg is right; I lose.  But only in regard to the ride home.  Having Gail and Greg in my life makes me a very big winner.