Birthday Madness-Part 1

So Friday Lydia and Ralph had invited me and Frank over for dinner. How nice! There was some possibility that Dan and Jill would join us, but when I pulled up to the house there was no Wentzel mobile so I guessed they couldn't make it. Sadly I was correct. What I didn't see parked around the corner was Monie's truck, Bill's truck, Connie's Car and the Reisse car!

I walked in, saw Alison and was pleasantly surprised, then everyone else popped up from around the corner! What better present could a girl ask for than time with the people she adores? Lydia said she wussed out on a present, but I think she came up with the perfect one.

So there was grilling, Ralph teasing Frank about his non-meatiness and telling him about explaining vegetarians to young Jack only to have jack declare himself a "meatitarian". There were tequila shots...about 3/4 of a bottle of them. Now, I love tequila, but what I love even more is when Ralph does shots with me then does the Tequila Dance. You have to imagine a high ranking sargent in the army who's close to retirement and has seen combat basically doing "spirit fingers" and mincing around with this lemon-sucking face on. It's hilarious!

Miss Charlotte, Julie and I played in the water a bit. I flicked water on her and ended up with a tiny wet hand print on my leg. She is adorable. I think by the end of the evening she and Shadow (the dog) had worked out a truce: Charlotte wouldn't run from him and he in return got potato chip crumbs.

Of course after not too many of these the soon to be birthday girl was 3 sheets to the wind. Things I remember include:

• Asking Monie to bite Ralph and her doing it, making him a wer-lesbian which I think tickled him.
• Bill stripping down to his boxer briefs and jumping in the pool
• Foolishly thinking I was wearing heels and having Monie not only correct me (they were wedges) but then walk easily in them. Of course I then had her wear Connie's shoes which were higher but she also had no problem with. There is a picture of Monie's feet somewhere because I was so tickled by this.
• Deciding to go swimming then deciding I could use a spotter walking down the 3 steps to the pool. Doesn't this sound like a great idea?
• Connie being a sweetheart and life guarding while drunk people went swimming.
• Ralph and I telling Connie how pretty she was.
• Monie telling me Frank needed saving from Ralph and me planting a kiss on him which I think elicited a few "ews"
• Birthday cake between shots
• Lydia offering me a shot of vodka and then double fisting when I opted out
• Bill barfing in the mint
• Riding home with my eyes closed, opening them every so often and flailing and arm in the direction Frank needed to turn.

Things I have been told:

• Ralph and Sean stripped naked and jumped in the pool. Thank you God I was in the house. Sadly Connie was not. Frank was in the pool and when taunted by Ralph that he was afraid to hang out in the deep end with them he gamely replied that he was not going to prove his manhood by swimming over to naked men.
• Bill trying to convince Connie to strip to her undies and get in the pool. This got another great reply: That there was more of her than there was of him, to which there was a little answer of "It's cold..." And this apparently became a running gag for the night
• Connie sitting on the couch with Sean and Al when Al decided to order porn. This would have happened drunk or sober, so I have no idea which Alison was.
• By the time we left at least two bathrooms were occupied by people making offerings to the porcelain gods

I'm sure there are many more stories, but all I know is I woke up in bed curled up with Frank, a little owie in the head and uneasy in the tummy but very happy. He took very good care of me, and let me sleep until 3. Hee hee. Mid-morning I got a call from Lydia checking on me, I think she was calling from the bathroom. Monie checked in on me and I thanked her for coming (it just isn't a birthday without her). I texted Bill later to make sure he was alive. He was, and asked me to apologize to Lydia for barfing on the mint. And I sent a thank you to Connie as well for putting up with a lot of drunken silliness.

I have friends who hate tequila but love me so they do shots with me. Friends with hellishly busy schedules who made time to celebrate with me. Friends who will turn others into wer-lesbians for me.

You know recently an old friend from college sent me a note and said it looked like I was still in touch with most folks from that part of our lives. Yes I am, and I'm damn lucky to have found such a great family. And he's missing out on a lot in my opinion.

One thing is for certain though. I think there needs to be a night when Lydia, Ralph, Bill and I take Connie, Frank and Monie out and let them get drunk while we stay sober and lifeguard!