I decided to go and have sushi tonight at my favorite little place here in Macon - ShoGun its aptly called. A sweet and sour roll and a salmon roll plus the little hot pot of green tea - can't go wrong there and the service is always spot on. Its right off Riverside Drive up the hill and behind the S&S. Conveniently in the old location of the former T.K. Tripps restaurant which opened here around 1980 who also built the building. It has certainly stood the test of time since the restaurant was gone from there by 1990. T.K. Tripps is still around but only in North Carolina and Virginia. There have been other restaurants to come and go since but the facility and my memories remain.
It was here in this very location that I went on my first date when I was 16 and could drive; feeling all at once the new found independence that pointing a vehicle in any direction which suited you could bring. My girlfriend and I had been together already for a while and always managed, planned and connived various methods of being together every weekend. She was in a neighboring county and a different school system, so having a rendezvous required skillful planning from each of us. This almost always involved, up to this point, someones parent(s) ferrying one or the other to some designated meetup point followed by time well spent and the inevitable return trip (always too soon) that had to be arranged. Set free upon the middle Georgia roads in my mighty 1973 Volkswagen Squareback I was emancipated from any parental dependence and time limits based on someone else's schedule and ready to join the world of adults making plans and dates and being in charge of when and where I went. I was a man (I thought) with a mission - First stop: pick up my GF and lets go out on a real date like real people do and live the good life that had so long awaited us. T.K. Tripps it was to be; I set a course from Jones county to Macon and made like the crazy taxi as we rode the 8.5 miles as pioneers setting out for Oregon. I was prepared and more as we drove from our adolescence into our young adulthood that day, not knowing that there was no going back; time and maturity only move in one direction.
Preparedness has always been a mainstay of mine since early memory and this was to be no exception. Until this point going out to eat or to dinner at a nice place, such as T.K. Tripps, I had always been in the company of adults and when perusing the menu had never looked at or taken much notice of the prices of dinner selections. Therefore, when together for the first time whereupon I was paying the bill I wanted to be ready. Problem was, I had NO concept of what a nice dinner like this would cost. I decided that to be on the safe side I should err on the side of caution and bring extra. I decided to go by the bank where my meager savings account was and withdraw $100. Now bear in mind this was in 1980 dollars and comparatively speaking this was a HUGE amount! There was going to be NO way that I was going to run the risk of embarrassment and be caught over the proverbial barrel with not enough money for the dinner; no sent to the kitchen and wash dishes for this guy, no, I was the man with the plan and the roll of cash. Call me big money, fat wad, heavy tipper cause I was ready-freddy and going to pay for anything we wanted! My GF _____ was so impressed with my worldliness and savvy that we went for broke and ordered up something truly fantastic: Chicken Cordon Bleu! Each! Plus appetizers...
We were at the cultural pinnacle of Macon feasting on the food of the gods in the temple of freedom and delights. A great time was had and finally, the moment had arrived...the check was presented and the time was upon me to produce the cash and "handle it". Imagine my unexpected shock when the total for all we had ordered including our drinks (non alcoholic) , appetizers, entrees, deserts and all totaled only $14.56! That was all - no more.... what a let down as I was anticipating at least $75 somehow and was tense with my $100 wondering if there would be enough left over for a decent tip.
Shamed as I was for being so overly prepared and having no grid of understanding for what a dinner out REALLY cost we still managed to have a good time of it, _____ held my hand as we walked out and I could tell that she was impressed with her man of the world who knew how to accomodate a night at T.K. Tripps.
Glad that old place is still up there on the hill - a warm reminder of earlier days and good times spent back when I was a high rolling big wheel...
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