Ever since the house has emptied of young people, Mac and I have started having Date Night. We always go out to eat, sometimes we take in a movie. Usually we go out on Friday. Friday just seemed like the right night. We don’t get too far away from Jefferson.

I find that I have a whole new understanding of “road rage.” Since Mac doesn’t like the sound of screeching in his ears, (mine) we don’t get to Charlotte much. Heck, we don’t get to Monroe, much for that matter.

Once upon a time the corners of 151 and 265 were empty lots with a blinking caution light to warn cars not to drive through doing more than 45. (It works pretty well, but of course there is always the errant driver who thinks he will be able to beat that sand truck barreling down the highway, and usually he’s wrong).

Now we have a Family Dollar on one side and a Dollar General on the other. Jefferson is becoming quite the metropolis these days! I remember a couple of years ago the excitement when we turned down 151 going to Pageland seeing the lot just up from the school being cleared. We wondered what was going up there for ages. Then, someone whispered in my ear “The World Famous Smokehouse Restaurant” is moving from the old location. Now, not knowing where the old location was, never having dined there, I didn’t get the import of this piece of news. But for the fact that after chicken, barbecue is my absolute favorite, I decided that it was someplace we would be going. And so we do.

But we had Date Night early last week. Roger (Courtney) told us he was trying a new thing, Oldie Nights at the Smokehouse on Wednesday nights. Last Wednesday was the first evening. I couldn’t believe the trouble that Roger had gone to for this. He had decorated it with 45 record cutouts, the wait staff all were dressed as bobby soxers and there was even a DJ set up. I have to tell you, Ken Wade is the bomb, as the kids say. I did my best to stump him, “let’s have some ‘100 pounds of clay’” and within seconds, there it was. “How ‘bout some Ricky Nelson?” Out of the speakers streamed “Hello, Mary Lou” … someone called for Chubby Checker and “The Twist” … then two ladies about my age or maybe a tad older, hopped out on the floor and showed us they hadn’t forgotten a thing about the twist! Applause was shared, they deserved it!

While enjoying my barbecue sandwich, onion rings and tackling the best milkshake I’ve ever had, we were entertained and stayed on even after we had finished our dinner. We listened to the dreamy tones of Sam Cooke, then played our own version of “name that tune” … I can’t wait for this Wednesday!

n Sandi McBride is a resident of Jefferson who blogs regularly and enjoys her garden and her furry and feathered friends. She is a wife and mother of two sons.