Saturday night hubby and I went out with his "young" cousins for a get together at a night club. I have know these "kids" since they were little ones hanging around me and my "boyfriend". We took them with us everywhere, bought them Taco Bell, swam with them in the pool and I even took them home with me sometimes for a sleep over. Now most of them are married, 30something and have kids of their own. But still they are younger and much more into the club scene than we are that's for sure.

So going to a night club like this is a little out of our element now. Never mind that we showed up in the Farkle Family Van in front of the club to be valet parked. Halfway there we thought maybe we should have taken the Volvo but it was too late at that point. The essence of cool is not showing up in a minivan with Youth lacrosse magnets on the back.

So in we went. Nobody wanted to proof us. Really? How rude. Big Man With No Neck you could have thrown the old lady a bone and asked if I had ID? I was wearing my big heavy coat since it was f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g. Gum cracking Stick behind the front desk informs us coat check is full. Marvelous. So now do I not only stand out since I turned 110 upon walking in the door, but I must lug around a "parka" that I nearly knocked over everyone with as I squeezed past them.

We finally locate our "party" on the other side of the bass boooming club. They are dancing in a 12x12 area that is supposed to be a dance floor to accommodate about 200+ people. I guess so if you dance they way they do now.

I am 40something. I am not from 1861 and danced in a hoop skirt in a ballroom when I was younger. I get it. I know it gets crowded in a nightclub. But really? All you need to do now is have a drink in your hand, stand squashed in a bunch with your friends and bop up and down. Oh, and fist pump every now and again. And don't forget to spill your drink on the floor to the point that my husband gets stuck in it and his foot literally comes out of his stuck shoe. Ew. And please feel free to grind upon any person that suits your fancy as you rub by them trying to get through. I think I may be now dating one such "boy toy" that passed by.

But we danced with our cousins. We had a few laughs and beat it the hell outta there after about two drinks and an hour and half. It was OK. They got a kick out of the fact that we showed up, since according to them "we look like we still got some dance left in us and need to get out more" Wow.

And we do get out thank you very much. We just do it different. We walk up to the local bar to catch an "80's band" with all of our 40something friends. We could go somewhere else, but drinking and driving is not an option for us. We have fun too. We can get our groove on out on the dance floor. (and if we spill a drink we get a napkin and and wipe it up)

So if you are feeling like your youth is just a distant memory and you long for the nights of high heels, clubbing and over-priced drinks....trust me you ain't missing much. In a room full of girls dressed to the nines with little left to the imagination, I felt surprisingly at ease.

They don't have a clue. I do. I get it. Not sure if it comes with turning 40 (which my 40something friends may agree) or just that I have been there done that. I thought I would leave there slightly bummed to get back in the mini-van and go home and get to sleep (it was almost 1 a.m. for crying out loud). Although I would rather have had a little cooler of a vehicle to leave in, it was OK. '' I was going home to my sleeping kids with my own (perhaps a little grayer) boy-toy and that was fine by me.

Jenn's two cents: Been there done that- and I have no desire to do it again. I like my nights in town with the girls shaking our thing and going home by midnight or dancing in the dining room in our barefeet. My club days are over!