I walked through the gallery door and immediately noticed the place was packed. Tonight was the opening of a show featuring photos of the Columbia River Gorge. A competition was held to determine the 40 finalists that would be featured. Two of my prints were among those final 40. 

I started working my way around the room, looking closely at every image. I looked at the name of the image. I looked at the name of the artist who created the image. I looked at the presentation. I was impressed. This stuff was good. After I looked at 15 or so prints, I kinda started feeling sick to my stomach. I was embarrassed by what I'd submitted. I remember thinking that this was a good learning experience. I can't pretend to be as good as these artists. 

I continued my way around the room and finally made it to my prints. I glanced at them and kept moving. I didn't really want to look at them. 

Mrs SS approached me and told me that there was a participating artist name tag for me. I told her I didn't want to wear it. I didn't need a name tag. A few minutes later she came back with the tag and stuck it on my shirt. I asked her to please take it off, but she refused. When I learned that participating artists got a free beverage, I decided to make good use of the name tag and get myself a cold beer. Man that beer hit the spot. I was about halfway through the beer when people started gathering for the award presentations. Mrs. SS moved up close to the front, but I got stuck way in the back, which was alright with me. I'm kinda tall, so I had a good enough view. 

They announced the third place winner, who wasn't there to accept their award. There was a little joking about who would get his prize. A moment went by, then they announced second place. The second place winner was me. I was flabbergasted. I must have looked like a deer in the headlights as I made my way through the crowd to accept my award. There were applause. There were lots of handshakes. For an hour or so there, I felt like a rock star. I felt like I'd taken first place. The whole experience was absolutely surreal. 

That was one hell of a beer buzz.