Dinner with Ruben, Raelynn, Ash and the Girls!

I just got back from my dinner with some old friends. I hadn't seen them in probably over a year. It's an odd story how I met these friends. Several years ago, I used to go dancing on Friday nights and sometimes a random Saturday as well. My sisters friend Lupe was single and I was single and she knew of this place in Bakersfield where you could go to dance Mexican music.

This place we went to was a casino. The north side of the building was a casino and on the south side was a club that had a bar and different bands played Mexican music. By Mexican music I mean cumbias and rancheras and some cha-chas. So we started going there and we had a really good time. We would meet some guys and dance the whole night and then if we liked the guys and they seemed trustworthy, we would meet up with them at Denny's and they would buy us breakfast. It was fun and harmless and good exercise.

Through the casino I met Ruben and Raelynn. They would dance there pretty often and I loved watching them. They danced really well together, it was like watching dancing with the stars...well except without the stars themselves :-)

Slowly but surely Ruben, Raelynn and I became friends and when they closed down the casino our little group moved to a new place called The Jungle at the Hill House. We had a really good time there as well except that without a casino full of men there were less men to dance with, but we made do.

Then once they closed the Jungle, we all moved over to the Tam O'Shanter and that was the last place that we all danced together at. It's been a long time since we've been dancing together but Raelynn and I managed to keep in touch, mostly due to effort on her part; she's such a good friend.

Tonight was fun. They just moved into a new house a few months ago and this was the first time I had been over to see it. It's a really nice house and Raelynn is a great decorator. She's also a really great cook. She made this dish with chicken and Lipton onion soup mix that was sooooooo good. I'll definitely have to get the recipe. She also bakes a mean baked potato. When I bake a potato they're always still kinda hard in the middle, but hers were very good and soft and moist. Excellent meal Raelynn!

Ruben was very proud to show me pictures of a group of kids that he's training in some kind of martial art. I know he's gonna kick me, but I don't remember if it was Karate or Tai Kwan Do, but Raelynn's son Asher is a brown belt and he's won several trophies and he's the State Champion, I forget his exact title. But he's only 10 years old and he's already so accomplished.

I had a good time, thank you Ruben, Raelynn and Ash. I'll have to have them over to my home after the first of the year.