PARTY GIRL

1 January 2003

First things first: WeightWatchers was closed and locked this morning; the person with the key forgot to come and they postponed the meeting for an hour and a half. I didn't know it had been postponed. I only saw it was all dark and locked and assumed they had cancelled because of it being New Year's Eve, so I just came back home. I later e-mailed the leader, who explained what happened and who said she will give me a free week, since it hadn't been my fault for not being weighed. So once again, no new figures--and now I have a week to take off some of the weight I've put on over the past 2 weeks.

Earlier in the day, we were spending the last few hours with Jeri, who has npw gone down to the Bay Area to party and then will be flying back to Boston on Sunday. Then Dr. G called and asked if I could come to work, even though we had agreed that the office was going to be closed today. So I worked for an hour and a half, then bought party food at the supermarket and came home to take a nap in preparation for the big night.

I've always maintained I am the antithesis of a party girl. I don't like parties. I don't do well at parties. I avoid parties if I can. If I can't, I am usually quiet, or I take pictures, or I hide in the bathroom to get away from everyone. I don't know why I'm so unsociable, but I always have been.

So with that history, it's amazing that I would agree to go to not one, but two New Year's eve parties. Every year we get invited to The Psychiatrist's house for a big party with all the people we've known in Davis for 30 years--the people who have gone on from being suburban parents and Little League parents and PTA members to being the movers and shakers in town...heads of medical institutions, politicians, business owners, etc. The Psychiatrist heads up a bluegrass band and they play music all evening and the fun part is sitting and singing along with the band.

But that was the second party of the night. The first was one my friends Ellen and Shelly were hosting. I was supposed to go to this party last year and ended up getting sick and going to sleep before 9 pm, while Walt went on to The Psychiatrist's party.

This year I was determined to attend. They invited me to come early to participate in the taste test for the "Cosmopolitan" Shelly was learning how to make (instead of her world famous margaritas). The plan was that I would go to this party (which was all women, so Walt wasn't invited) and then meet him later at The Psychiatrist's.

You'd think that going into a large (50 people) social gathering where I knew only two or three there would be the very last thing I'd want to do, and very definitely the last thing I would actually enjoy, but I had a marvelous time. I felt instantly at home, met some wonderful women and to my surprise found myself the center of attention not once, but twice, when a small group discovered I was "the" Bev Sykes, who writes all those letters to the editor. We talked about the hot button issues--specifically the Boy Scouts and generalized homophobia, and I actually didn't feel tongue tied, as I usually do. I sorta almost kinda felt moderately intelligent. Whoda thunk?

I was pleased to see the young couple who invited me to their cookie exchange a year ago because they'd been following my letters to the editor and just wanted to say thank you. We had a lovely chat and they've promised to invite me again next year (they invited me this year, but it was the weekend I went to LA and I couldn't go).

There was much too much food, lots of drink of all kinds, alcoholic and non-alcoholic (I switched to bottled water after a time, though the Cosmopolitan was tasty).

Given my druthers, I would have preferred to just stay there to ring in the new year, but I had promised to meet Walt at the other party. I also was beginning to reach my "hide in the bathroom to get out of the noise and confusion" stage anyway. But it was a very warm goodbye when I left and I promised to come back again next year.

I was very grateful that my newly ordered Lands End jacket had arrived that afternoon. All of my coats are either too lightweight or too big and it's downright chilly in the nighttime hours, but I now have this marvelous down filled reversible jacket that fits (thankyewverymuch) and I could just snuggle down in it as I biked from the first party to the second.

The second party was in full swing, with the music going, and people singing and another groaning board of food. It was nice seeing old friends whom I only see at this event each year, and even nicer that it was so close to midnight that by the time I'd finished a bottle of water and chatted with a couple of people, it was time for auld lang syne, a bowl of bisque, and then on the bikes and home again.

So we've survived the season--Thanksgiving to New Year's Eve and now we await the discoveries that 2003 will bring. I have a horrible sinking feeling that my prayer for peace in 2003 will not be answered, but I remain hopeful. In 2003, I wish you friendship, companionship, love, and a world of discovery...and if the guys with their itchy fingers on the triggers of all those nu--cuoo--lar weapons could just find something else to do with their hands, I wouldn't mind it either.