Another Successful "Happy Hour"

I don't know if I told you this; but it's illegal to have a happy hour in North Carolina. It's a violation of the law to lower the price of alcoholic beverages for less than 24 hours. So in stead, we call Fridays, Happy Day now. We still close the bar from 4-6:30 and close it off for strictly drinkin'. But tonight I explained to a few members that now, if they wanted to, they could order a drink at 7:00 am and to have with their mini muffins (that are scooped out with an ice cream scooper and then baked) and bagels and Activia yogurts. And I'll be honest, some of them are so "thrifty" I wouldn't be surprised to someone dressed in a track suit with the News & Observer in one hand, and a cabernet in the other at the continental breakfast. People do it in Europe every day.
This evening, we had "John Dalys" as the Happy Hour special. With the Masters and pollen and warm weather and all the blue skies it seemed like the perfect drink for this evening. We whipped up some orange simple syrup and mixed it with Firefly (that is, honest-to-goodness Sweet Tea flavored vodka) and topped it with lemon-lime soda. It's called a John Daly because it's an alcholic version of an Arnold Palmer. It's a cheap shot; but everybody gets the joke.
Now, one might think, no way would an 80+ year-old drink something as crazy as sweet-tea flavored vodka. And one would be wrong. Don't worry, most misconceptions about "old people" have been exposed at the Cedars. Friday nights prove that many of them are willing to try new things. We decided a long time ago to try to think up something many of them haven't ever had before. And a lot of them are very receptive to new things.
When we made something called Tar Heel Tea (a blue version of a Long Island Iced Tea) some members said "it looks like poison," but they tried it. Some of them even liked it.
When I had my last happy hour before I left for Colorado a server made Jello shots (yes, Jello shots). I was watching old people slam them down like it was finals week at Carolina.
Their sense of adventure is still strong.
And if you've never seen a 93 year take a Jello shot in the shape of a Tar Heel logo, you're life might not mean as much as you think.
That might be a little harsh. You're life probably means a lot despite having seen this; but seeing old people take Jello shots is incredible.