My own Sierra Grille experience

Last Thursday was the day complete first drafts were due of final papers for all of my writing students and there wasn't 100% compliance in this so I had students working with an extended deadline of 8:30 PM, which is feasible since it's a boarding school. At the conclusion of the school day, I drove out to Hatfield to bring a student to her weekly therapy appointment and I sat in the car and read the papers that were turned in while she was in her session. We had dinner at Whole Foods and headed back to campus, whereupon I picked up the papers turned in for the 8:30 deadline, drove home to get the wife's car (my truck is past inspection and I've only been driving it to school and back) and then drove right back out to the Valley again, this time to the Sierra Grille in Northampton. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take part in the free dinner (not that Whole Foods was bad or anything but free Sierra Grille fare is def. a better deal) and just as I walked in the door, ready to leave my day job/school world behind, the first person I see is a guy named Matt who I just hired to teach English at our school in the fall. That's fine- school never truly departs from my consciousness so we chatted for a bit, then Hen and I brought in some equipment.

Not long after, while the band prior to us were still playing, I found a cozy spot at an empty corner table by myself, took off my glasses and put my head down for a minute to rest. Perhaps since I'd been hustling all day since waking up with my one year-old son at 5:30 AM, the late hour was enough to put me right off to sleep. I was awoken by a blurry (my glasses were still off) female who I took to be Lesa Bezo, who was wondering if I was okay. In my half-awake state, I realized the band had stopped playing and I was due to step up to the stage and join SFTD. I addressed this person, who actually does not know me, by standing straight up and following her back to her table all the while insisting, "I'm alright, I'm coming, I'm coming, tell Henning I'll be there in a second." At that point, I'm guessing she regretted waking me up but was probably relieved and a little confused when I walked past her, stepped onstage and began playing the song you can watch the video of below within a minute of our interaction.