I got very VERY little sleep the night before from all the noise in the room (Mom and the A/C turning on and off all night mostly).
Enough about that. I helped out in areas I knew I could, like putting out trays of food, or helping puff out tissue flowers, or amusing Tony (my 6.5 year old cousin) by just watching whatever it was he had to show me that second.
I knew my aunt Sass (not her real name) was stressed out with all the preparation and coordinating everything, so I tried to keep an eye on Tony. The father is a complete moron, so you can't trust him to care for his own child. He's just not smart enough. Anyways, I've diverged again. Sorry.
Then the party got started. People felt that it was okay to finally start munching on some of the food that had taken so long to prepare. Then a few people showed up.
One of them was Deanna. She's Brianna's half sister (on her dad's side) so technically she's not related to me, but we still think of each other as cousins. She is married now, and still a pleasure to be around. I haven't seen her since.... hmm... let me think a bit... (if it's taking this long, you know it's been a long time)... probably since the early 90's, late 80's even.
Another one was Brianna's dad, whom I haven't had a chance to talk to (other than saying hello and good-bye when he'd pick Bre up) in a very long while. He was shocked at how old I've gotten. His name is Jim, but I only knew him as Uncle Yo-yo (don't ask, cause I don't know). He brought his beautiful wife, Audrey. They both have the ideal skin color... a creamed coffee color, the perpetual tan look.
Other people to show up I didn't really know, so I'm not going to mention them here (since I still don't know names). After about 2 hours or so, nobody showed up and nobody showed up and... nobody showed up. Brianna was starting to get upset that her friends weren't there. I felt bad for her, but I recalled my graduation party. Only ONE friend of mine showed up, so I wasn't expecting any significant number of her friends to show up (since everyone has their parties on the same day and you just can't leave your own party... right, Ryan? hehe)
Since a few people were leaving, and there was a dull point in the party, Mom decided she would take the opportunity to show Grandma some of the new wire whimsies we'd made. I went to the car to get them, Mom started unrolling them (to display them) and little by little people started walking over to see what everyone else was looking at. I have to admit, it was kinda tacky to turn a grad party into a craft sale (if only for a short time). But, nothing else was happening, and it caused people to stick around longer, so it couldn't have been all that bad. :)
Besides, I made a few sales... so it couldn't have been all that bad.
In the last hour or so of the party, Brianna's friends showed up. The were there like a herd of cattle. They showed up nearly all at once, they grazed, and then they moved on shortly after. Brianna was happy they showed up, and the rest of us were releaved.
When the party was officially over, I helped take chairs and tables back over to the church (that they borrowed them from) and again helped with more cleaning up (of things I probably helped set up in the first place). A group of us took down the tarp that was connected to the metal poles. With a group of people working together, it went rather fast and smoothly.
We thanked Georgie and Bob (the friends of Sass's that held the party in their backyard and back porch). We sat around and talked a bit more... and then it was over.
Such a long day on so little sleep. I can't believe I made it all the way through without just conking out.
After awhile, we headed back to the hotel to go swimming. I haven't swam SWAM in a long time. I had gone to Mom's water class, and I'd sat in hot tubs and suanas (if they count in the pool category) quite a few times, but no actual swimming. I didn't know how skilled I would still be at swimming once it got down to it again, since it's been THAT long.
I stepped in the water, and HOLY SHIT! it was cold! I went to the hot tub to warm up. Sat in there for quite a bit of time until I was starting to get a little on the warm side (instead of the thawing I had been doing).
I stepped in the pool again, and this time it was cold, but I was warm so I just walked in as fast as I could to get it over with. I dunked my head under and all was well. I started swimming around like the fish I thought I was born as. I swam the length of the pool. I swam frontwards and back. I swam underwater. I did somersaults. I floated. I didn't want to get out of the water, even when my body got cold again. I just forced myself to swim to warm it up some more.
Then to soothe my muscles, I went to the hot tub. It was SO warm after being in that cold pool. I sat in there for awhile more until we all finished up. It was nice to swim again. The only problem I have with swimming is, I get so hungry afterwards.
It had been such a long day, that I was glad to see it ending. I was yawning and yawning, so I knew it was bedtime. Instead, we went over to Sass' house one more time. I ate some food, and was hoping we'd get a chance to play cards.
Unfortunately, everyone but Mom and I wanted to be party poopers. So we didn't play cards. We sat around and talked, munching on food. I kept eating chips. More chips. More chips. Chips with dip. More chips. Oh my.
Yawn. I'm sleepy. We head back to the hotel, and I don't even need anything to read or any crosswords to do before bed. I think my head hit the pillow and about 30 minutes later, I was in a coma! Long day. Not to be repeated anytime soon, I hope.
Carisa