Rat Pack hilarity

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

Never admit you know the legends if you want to feel young

Billet Room at Bowie House in Fort Worth, Texas (photo courtesy of Bowie House)

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…