(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