All It Took Was Dean Martin’s Pool Table to Make Me Feel Young, and Then Old

My sister and I are celebrating my birthday at The Bowie, a five-star hotel recently opened in our hometown of Fort Worth. Fabulous art, opulent western decor, and a Michelin star menu even during happy hour.

Also a pool table.

After happy hour drinks and nibbles, we wander out of the bar and into the Billet/Sports Room, complete with framed photos of Michael Jordan tearfully clutching a trophy, Kobe Bryant tributes, a 1940s basketball perched casually on an antique table, a roulette wheel, a fainting couch, presumably for when the games get overwhelming, and the pool table.

Unlike its opulent surroundings, the pool table is — just a pool table. Mid-Century functional, not elaborate.

Well used but well maintained. Much like me.

A young man sees us eyeing it and invites us to play.

Play is an optimistic word for my prowess at pool. Although you certainly wouldn’t call it work either, as in professional pool. My sister is marginally better. Fortunately, the pool shark, I mean the young man, is open to playing for grins. We are Happy Hour happy, and I’m not feeling my age at all.

My sister is two inches taller than my five-foot-two, which she claims is only five feet. She says I cheat and stand on tiptoe when being measured.

Whatever, those two inches allow her to drape her body gracefully over a pool table while taking a long shot. If I stand tippy-toe, I might be able to get the upper part of my torso in a partial position to hit a long shot. Sinking it is another story.

Regardless, we are Happy Hour happy, and I’m not feeling my actual age at all. In fact, I feel quite young.

We play, miss shots, miraculously sink a few, and laugh so much with the young man that his girlfriend comes to claim him back from us. While she waits for the end of the game, I read the plaque near the pool table, which describes it as having belonged to Dean Martin.

I’m thrilled and allow myself to feel for the moment as if I’m part of the Rat Pack. Drinking, cracking wise, and playing pool in a fancy establishment.

I announce that we are playing on Dean Martin’s pool table to my sister, the young man, and his girlfriend.

https://morrisonhotelgallery.com/products/dean-martin-beverly-hills-ca-1966-q7v5xr

Who, as children are want to do, quickly looks it up on her phone. She finds a photo of Dean Martin in his Rat Pack heyday.

She holds it up for us to see and asks,

“Is this the guy? Do you know him?”

Image licensed by author from Shutterstock

Huh. You mean, do I know him intimately, as in to have a drink with and play a little celebratory pool with on his table? Or do you mean do I know him in the biblical sense?

Well, no, I’m not that old!

Although as a child, I fantasized growing up to be the woman driving the drop-top cherry red Corvette through Vegas, scarf and hair blowing freely and seductively in the wind. Picking up Dean Martin and the rest of the Rat Pack, after they complete the heist in the original 1960 movie Ocean’s 11.

I’ve never actually made it to Vegas. Although I can now say I’ve played pool on Dean Martin’s pool table. Even though I’m not THAT old.

Ain’t That A Kick in the Head??

Sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter featuring the best of Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age.

—

This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

***

You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project

Compliments Men Want to Hear More Often

Relationships Aren’t Easy, But They’re Worth It

The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex

..A Man’s Kiss Tells You Everything

—

Photo credit: iStock.com