The Graduation Party

Prelude:

The morning of the party Martha gave me the lecture - “you are not to just disappear. Do not go off for hours reminiscing about your glory days with the 3 musketeers (my friends Ren and Laurie were both coming and we have not been all together for quite some time) And please make an attempt to be social”

Yes, she knows me too well.

The party went off well. It was a very hot day but we had rented a large tent so most people were able to stay in the shade. Almost everyone came, but fortunately, in shifts. At the beginning most people sat with the folks they knew - Beanie’s friends grouped together, Martha’s relatives took over one table, neighbors chatted with neighbors, and my work colleagues sat as one group. The queer ladies were the first to mingle with others they didn’t know - but mostly with other queers ladies.

I tried very hard to circulate and chat with everyone - except for the table of basketball coaches, where Martha spent most of her time. Basketball is all they ever talk about and they speak a language I don’t really understand.

As time went on, folks did start to mingle more. One of my favorite images was seeing by born again secretary sitting around the pool, dangling her feet in the water talking to 5 or 6 gold star lesbians. I don’t think she even realized.

My 84 year old neighbor runs a driving school and was going up to everyone saying “I taught you to drive.” Even many of the adults (and some of their parents) apparently learned from him. My neighbor, the county sheriff, seemed to know way too many people there : ) And many of my colleagues knew some of my neighbors, so that worked well.

All the adults had left by 8:00 and the yard and pool were taken over by the kids. But then unfortunately, the skies opened up with a spectacular lightning/thunder/drenching rain/hail storm. All these “top of the class”, best and brightest young people thought they could still sleep out under the tent. You know, the one with the huge metal poles in the ground. Duh. (I do worry about them)

All of the beds in the house were already claimed by out of town adults staying over so the kids took over the rest of our very tiny house, including the garage.

When I got up Sunday morning, my house was wall to wall bodies. I set up bagels and fruit under the tent and eventually folks got up, ate, and left. Martha and I spent the rest of Sunday cleaning up, returning borrowed items, putting away way too much food. We fell into bed at 8:30 last night, and I am still exhausted today.

Beanie said her friends said it was the best grad party yet. And I guess that’s really all that mattered.

Postlude:

Came in to work this morning and one woman told me it was a great party, told me she had heard ‘interesting’ stories about me *wink*, and then patted me on the butt.

You see, this is what I wanted to avoid. Some chapters in my life just shouldn’t mix.