Escaping to LIME

Our latest Great Escape was to a pretty cool place called LIME located in Hyde Park on Howard (LINK) http://www.thelimetampa.com/ and it was a successful "escape" all around. While you all know the purpose of our escape is to get out of the "bubble" which is our gated community, sometimes the escape leaves you with mixed feelings. Why? Cause you end up realizing what you're missing - youth, vigor, vitality. One could easily sink into nostalgic despair when you realize all that is in the past for you. So our adventurous group tries hard to spin it in a positive light. LIME is a lively, fun place - a lot going on - TV screens playing sports games, gorgeous waitresses in skimpy attire flashing million dollar smiles and silicon enhanced chests, loud alternative rock filling the room. Do we ladies begrudge these young girls their gorgeous youth? No. Happily we are secure enough in who we are to admire them like pop art. "Hey look at her 6" heels, aren't they gorgeous?" to which I can self deprecatingly reply "oh, my hammer toe would look stunning in those strappy creations". We all giggle. If our husbands are caught checking them out we just smile and pay extra close attention to the equally buff and hot male waiters (can you say cougar?). It's okay - we're all admiring the art of it. None of us would stand a chance and we all know it. As for the food, it was really good! Rice bowls with veggies and protein of your choice; quesadillas, and I had a Caesar salad with grilled chicken. Nothing gourmet, just good casual food at decent prices. This weekend I also happened to explore two other Great Escapes. The old Steve McQueen movie in which American prisoners of war are incarcerated by the Germans in WWII whose duty as officers is to escape by any means. The movie is delightful and you find yourself pulling for the officers and delighting in their escape. True heroes. The other Great Escape I watched was a new TV show in which 3 teams were locked up in Alcatraz and challenged to escape and endure all sorts of roadblocks. I didn't like any of these people and won't watch the show again. They were narcissistic, arrogant, unable to perform simple math problems in their heads (duh where's my calculator) and frankly didn't deserve to escape. I say throw away the key. Our group seeks only to escape for a little while. We know life in our bubble is actually quite nice. We'll continue to escape for as long as we can - but like Dorothy said "there's no place like home".