Stranger on the Shore

Who knew that by going to Atlantic City the odds would be in my favor to find happiness and contentment within myself and my continuing search for love!  In fact, it was on a bench on the boardwalk on a more than chilly Saturday afternoon when the answer that I needed was put into one single, solitary word - anomalies.  More on that in a bit. 

In the casinos there is no sense of the time of day - 4 in the morning is as much of a party as 4 in the afternoon, maybe more.  And my cohorts and I exceeded that curfew by a good many nautical miles on our first night in town.  We closed down the "proper" clubs at 4 a.m..  Then we found an after-hours place where we partied with some of the same bartenders we had bought drinks from earlier in the night.  Our group consisted of Erica, Jen, Chelsea, their friend Mike, his friend Harry, and me.  The age range represented was early 20's to late 50's/early 60's, and we all had a great time together.  We finally called it a "night" around 7 a.m.

When I go on a get-away I like to waste as little time necessary on stuff like restorative sleep.  So, I was back up at 10 a.m., ready to roll.  Well, my very junior cohorts were not as eager to rise-and-shine, so I heard from them a few hours later...and then it happened.  Erica told me me she wanted to hit the boards to find some proper boardwalk fries.  As an aside, that must be an Ocean City, Maryland thing 'cause we never did find any fries that were quite similar to Thrasher's - and no damned malt vinegar on any of the french fry stand counters...wtf!  Anyway, I told Erica about my conundrum between dating women my own age who understand the same pop culture points of reference, and dating women her age who are more energetic and fun.  That's when she hit me with it - like a ton of bricks, really.  Erica said it's not about any certain age.  She opined that it's about being different, or as she put it, an anomaly.  Erica went on to explain that she and her girlfriends do not well represent most 20-somethings anymore than I represent most 40 year olds, or Harry defines people around the 60 milepost.  She went onto say that we are people who, for various reasons, have fun in a different way...occasionally more, and often harder.  She told me I need to find another available anomaly!  So, that cleared up what I am looking for, someone who probably does things in a not-so-stratified way, and sometimes rolls hard while having fun.  All this from a gal who was as foggy on the inside at that time, as that dreary day was on the outside.  It all kinda reminded me that maybe the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls. 

Wisdom sometimes springs from the strangest fonts, especially for us anomalies!  Things are most definitely stranger on the shore.  I just yearn to meet my stranger...

"Stranger on the Shore", Mr Acker Bilk.