$200 tab

Two Hundred Dollars.

No I didn't buy repeated rounds of Patrón shots, or order a football game's worth of beer towers. I didn't pick up the tab for my entire neighborhood or scream 'shots on me!' to the bar.

Truth is, it was me, my brother and his fiánce. That's it.

If you would've asked me 6 months ago if I would ever spend $200 on a bar tab, I would probably have laughed in your face and said 'yeah, maybe one day when I'm a CEO' secretly doubting that would ever happen.

But I can promise you I'm not a CEO, and yet I spent that much on my tab last night. Not including tip.

But it's not about the tab, and no I'm not an alcoholic (I still have a few years left of post-college drinking before it's considered alcoholism)

It's about finally being the one to take care of someone else, instead of someone always having to take care of me.

There's something very empowering about dropping that kind of cash on a mere night out. It's knowing that for the first time, you can take care of yourself, and others. For the first time, I'm not saying 'let's split this 3 ways' or 'I'll get the tip', or awkwardly staring at each other and fake motioning to your wallet until someone decides to step up.

It's nice being able to feel like an adult and not a broke college graduate with piles of loans creeping up on the bank statements (the latter is definitely still true)

I'm not here to brag about having a full-time job. I'm not here to say I'm filthy rich, and I'm well off forever just because I dropped $200 on a stupid bar tab. I'm here to say that hard work really is paying off, and I couldn't be happier and more thankful for the way life has been treating me.

I remember when I was a freshmen, and older girls in my sorority would always buy my friends and I a round of shots. I remember thinking that was so awesome, and I was so happy to get a free anything. Then senior year came, and I started to want to buy the younger girls drinks, but never really could. So I guess now, after all those free things were handed to me, I was finally able to pay back old debts.

But again, it's not about the liquor, or the nice gesture.

It's about feeling independent, and being able to take care of someone else for a change.

And for the record, it was a really good bartender.

So cheers to 'empowerment' and my newfound 'adulthood' feeling. Cheers to working hard, and hard work paying off. Cheers to good bartenders and above all, cheers to waking up tomorrow not feeling the effects (physically and mentally) of a $200 bar tab.