(not me, a reenactor, but we do have similar pj’s and hair)
—
many moons ago
when i lived a very busy life
single-mother, college, 2 jobs
I had family and friends over
to celebrate my daughter’s graduation.
the day started early
somehow everything came together
the party went well
my divorced parents got along
none of the food burnt
the cake turned out
everyone was pretty happy.
as the day wound down
there were just a couple of guests left
who wanted to stay to watch
the very end of a championship basketball game
we expected it would wrap up very quickly.
what are the odds
it broke records and went into triple overtime?
at a certain point
I could no longer stay awake
and tried the usual methods to end the day
yawning, cleaning up, sighing, talking about tomorrow
finally it was so bad
that I put my pajamas on and laid down on the floor
the game continued
the guests continued
at last there was a win and we said our goodbyes.
the next day,
I woke up went to work,
went to my class,
went to my other job
where my friend thanked me for a nice party.
I went on and on about how exhausted I was
due in part to these late guests
who just did not get the hint
that I needed to sleep
no matter what I said or did.
she nodded sympathetically
as I dramatically reenacted the entire end of the night
she listened quietly
until I finally had it out of my system and was done
and then she said,
“beth, that was us.”
epilogue:
we still are good friends and continue to laugh about it all these years later.
I am still not a good late-nighter and have a foggy memory.
—
“the guest who outstays his fellow guests loses his overcoat.”
~ chinese proverb
—
image credit: littlejayz/huffington post
