Me? I love this time of year!  I love the trees that are trying like hell with all their tiny little buds. I love the birds that are starting to stir and chirp in the early morning.  I even love buying grass seed at Lowe's and noticing how the sun is perched a little differently in the sky.  Early spring gives me a new pulse, a new rhythm, and as a restaurant guy, a bartender and a writer, I love seeing similar tendencies within the people who come out for drinks and dinner.  

I love how women, mostly mature women, wear their excitement for spring on their sleeves. These women start wearing pinks, yellows and lighter shades of green come late February and they have no problem at all being loud about how they "just can't wait" for summer to arrive. These women pay closer attention to salads with vinaigrettes and those lighter entrees, not because they're fat or slightly over weight, but because it seems to coincide with their choice in fashion and, of course, spring.  A salad just seems to look better with a yellow turtleneck and a peach colored Polo- you can almost smell spring in the air when you see this sort of lady eating this sort of food. These women are priceless- they are excited as hell with their brighter shades of lipstick and they've already made the seasonal switch from merlot to their summer chardonnay.

But then you have another kind of woman who just really doesn't care what anyone else thinks of her during this time of year, but that's not to say she dresses down. She's sophisticated and classy. She's professional and friendly.  She doesn't really have seasonal tendencies with her dress, but she sure does like to eat, especially if the food is good!  For example, last week four women in their 30's came in to Riva for dinner and they all decided to have braised lamb shank with a rich mission fig sauce over gorgonzola mashed potatoes.  They had two bottles of red wine, they rolled up their sleeves, tucked their napkins into their collar, and they ate like the boys do on super bowl Sunday.  And let me just say it was truly awesome to see women eat the way they want to eat, minus all the stereotypes and clichés about a woman's fashion and her appetite.  It was just great to see a lady pick up a shank, work it over, wash it down, and then unsnap her top button when it was all said and done.

So, basically this little rant of mine comes down to recognizing how people tend to comfort themselves differently this time of year. Some people comfort themselves with clothes and fashions that simply reek of a season they are longing for, while others seek comfort within the food they eat and the company they share.  I love both these kinds of people because they simply don't care what other people think! These people are going to eat, drink and wear what they want, when they want, and how they want.  These people are my kind of people indeed because they remind me that I have one of the coolest jobs in the world- I get to hang out with people who have no problem with being themselves.     

By Jay Cole

Jay Cole is the owner of Riva restaurant in Scituate harbor and has an M.A. in creative writing. As Wink's Male Muse, he entertains us with stories about the women and men who enter his bar.