Family party for the first time since the pandemic
It's been four years since my cousin last threw a party. That was for when TT graduated from college. We did have one party after that, when Aunt D hosted her grandson's third birthday party; the only other time we've gotten together since then was for Aunt D's services later in 2020.
Now that things have calmed down, it was time. Plus, my cousin's youngest child graduated from high school, so there was a reason for it. It's wild that CC is 18. I just feel bad that her sister, SJ, had to forgo a party since she graduated in the midst of the lockdowns. Yep, she was one of the unfortunate 2020 grads. She did try college briefly, but she's now working and is a manager at Michaels by her house. She seems pretty mature, like an old soul. Maybe this is why the two of us get along so well.
The biggest surprise happened when we went outside. Now, my cousin had given an ambiguous time of arrival, saying 2-3 PM. We got there at 2:01. My goddaughter, who is back living in the house, flew past us saying she wasn't yet dressed, and went into her room on the first floor before my slow-moving mother had even made it to the front door. We hung around the kitchen for a while, long enough that more relatives arrived. C3 is my host cousin; her sister, C1, was in town and showed up with their mom, my Aunt T, plus food and beverages. I went out to her rental car to help bring it all in. Shortly after, Kevin and Leah and their son, who's now 6, showed up, and we all made it into the backyard, where lo and behold, C3's son was hanging out with his dad and my dad, plus his father's brother. That happens to be the other godparent to my godchild, so we got a picture of the three of us together, likely the first time that happened since she was baptized.
Anyway, you have to understand that C3's son has autism and for years either hid in the couch cushions or up in his room during parties. To see him actively participating in the party was really amazing. Granted, he was drinking. Then again, all of C3's kids minus SJ were drinking. (...and eventually those three disappeared, but I'll go into that later.) Having spent a little time with him when fewer non-immediate family members were present, I know he's a funny guy. It was nice that my parents got to see that, too. He has a girlfriend! She lives in Hong Kong, but still. He went to an anime convention! SJ took him and they even stayed at a hotel. She got a video of him getting slapped by some girl; he paid $5 for the privilege. It sounds like he's a big reader and admitted that he's reading the Bible because his girlfriend is religious, like she's in some sort of commune or something. That's not the right term but we'll go with it. He was kind of philosophical. And, weirdly, he was really good with Kevin's son. They were hilarious together, even though Little Man kept referring to him as "the guy who said cooties." It took a while but we did get Little Man to call him by his name--and then we promptly gave them nicknames. Kevin has a coworker that calls everyone "Leroy," so that's what Kevin was calling Little Man, and then somehow C3's son started getting called Melvin, so they were the comedy duo of Leroy and Melvin. I tell you, in a decade they can take that act on the road; Leroy has to be old enough to drive first. (Melvin did take driver's ed but he does not have a license.) They were good for quite a while up until Leroy decided to tie up Melvin using this rope he found in the yard, and that wasn't a big deal, but then Leroy gave Melvin a big hug and that's about when Melvin noped on out of there. SJ said that her brother does not like to be touched, which partially explained why he never sat down, and that was probably the breaking point for him. And also the apparent vat of Guinness he'd downed. But considering this was the most we've seen of him at a party in his lifetime, we were pretty impressed.
The big news was that the girls--C3 and the daughters living at home--were about to go on a cruise while the boys stayed home. Turned out C3's best friend was getting married on some island off Florida. However, C3 was having some paperwork issues. Unbeknownst to us, she was not given a name immediately after she was born. She was the third daughter in a row and her father was none too pleased at not getting a son, so she wasn't named while they were still in the hospital. Her birth certificate reads "Female." Like that's her given name. It's only come up recently in trying to get a Real ID. My parents ran into something similar, since my father's name was misspelled on his birth certificate, and mom had to prove how she got from her maiden name to her current last name, as she had a husband before my dad. Since C3 also had a previous marriage, mom warned her about that, too, as mom was sort of blindsided the first time she went for her Real ID and didn't have all the paperwork she needed.
Speaking of first marriages, we got more of the lowdown on my goddaughter's situation. Back at Aunt D's services, my mom got the feeling things were not hunky-dory with my goddaughter and her husband, and then at some point in the past year or so she came back to live with her parents. (I hadn't realized that my cousin's husband kept taking down the wall for the downstairs bedroom whenever someone left; it always must have happened after she had a party. But the wall keeps going back up because people keep needing that room. Also, he's retired now and is redoing the house. The living and dining rooms have now flip-flopped for the first time since I can recall, and the kitchen has been redone. The family room is now the holding pen for everything cleared out of the rest of the rooms but he's planning on tackling that next.) Leah and I both were wondering what was up with my goddaughter; she's separated from her husband but they're not planning to divorce. There's no animosity, but during the pandemic she was still working but living with her mother-in-law, who has health issues and didn't want anyone coming or going. My goddaughter effectively was kicked out of the house. She stayed with friends for a while before coming back home. It sounds like neither of them want to go through the hassle of officially divorcing. I mean, if they're both okay with the situation, whatever. She seems like she's in good spirits so that's good. She too also had a fair amount of liquid spirits and by the time we left had retired to her room as she had a headache.
You may notice there hasn't been much mention of the guest of honor. She was part of the party for a while, starting off in a dress, then changing to shorts and a shirt since most people were dressed pretty casually and the dress wasn't staying in place on top (she said it was annoying her). Her dad had told her she could have a drink if she wanted...and she wanted. I only recall her having one bottle of something peachy, but she apparently had multiples on an empty stomach. This resulted in a peach-colored mess in her room, and for a while several of the ladies disappeared to help clean her up and get her into bed. Great. This was why I was so impressed with SJ; she said she was the only one of her siblings who'd never been drunk. Good for you. You're my favorite.
I didn't end up spending a lot of time with most of the others. Prior to the party, I'd wondered how I'd act around Kevin and Leah, since I have a sneaking suspicion her family ultimately is the reason my dad and I came down with the second bout of covid. When they arrived, they were busy giving everyone hugs but due to where I was standing I didn't get one. Kevin actually came up to me and side-hugged me a while later since he hadn't earlier. Honestly? All was well. We picked up where we left off. It did help me to hear that Leah did end up with covid at one point, having lost her sense of taste for a week. I think I found that out when I mentioned the whole air pollution issue, which has been giving me grief at times when I breathe. (Yay rain last night--we had clear blue skies this morning for the first time in weeks.) We still have smokers in the family, though. C3's husband, Kevin, and Leah all smoke cigarettes, and my goddaughter uses a vape. C3's husband was hurt on the job and lost full usage of his thumb and first two fingers on his right hand, so he was using a candle lighter with a binder clip on it as his cigarette lighter. At one point he took out a fresh cigarette but didn't have the lighter nearby; Little Man ran over to where it was and brought it to him. Like, I don't want to see the 6-year-old being helpful in this case, you know? It's not the '80s anymore.
All told, though, we had a really nice time. We said we should be going a while before we actually left, and in fact my dad had gone out to the car and was waiting for us while mom was still yakking away with C3 and C1. Like, mom, dad came through here about 10 minutes ago; she was waiting for him to come past. Dad had had a few beers so I was mildly nervous about the ride home, which is why when we got to Route 83 and he noticed the new restaurant across the street, and he went "Waffles!" because that was its name, I was like, "Traffic!" because 83's speed limit is at least 45 MPH right there, which really means anywhere between 50-60. Seriously, dad, pay attention. And of course it really freaked us out to wake up the next morning and see that waffle place in the live shot from the news coverage of the Willowbrook mass shooting. We still don't exactly know what all happened over there but the news cycle has moved on and things have calmed down. It still sucks that it marred an otherwise nice evening, but I'm very thankful our family wasn't involved.
Now that things have calmed down, it was time. Plus, my cousin's youngest child graduated from high school, so there was a reason for it. It's wild that CC is 18. I just feel bad that her sister, SJ, had to forgo a party since she graduated in the midst of the lockdowns. Yep, she was one of the unfortunate 2020 grads. She did try college briefly, but she's now working and is a manager at Michaels by her house. She seems pretty mature, like an old soul. Maybe this is why the two of us get along so well.
The biggest surprise happened when we went outside. Now, my cousin had given an ambiguous time of arrival, saying 2-3 PM. We got there at 2:01. My goddaughter, who is back living in the house, flew past us saying she wasn't yet dressed, and went into her room on the first floor before my slow-moving mother had even made it to the front door. We hung around the kitchen for a while, long enough that more relatives arrived. C3 is my host cousin; her sister, C1, was in town and showed up with their mom, my Aunt T, plus food and beverages. I went out to her rental car to help bring it all in. Shortly after, Kevin and Leah and their son, who's now 6, showed up, and we all made it into the backyard, where lo and behold, C3's son was hanging out with his dad and my dad, plus his father's brother. That happens to be the other godparent to my godchild, so we got a picture of the three of us together, likely the first time that happened since she was baptized.
Anyway, you have to understand that C3's son has autism and for years either hid in the couch cushions or up in his room during parties. To see him actively participating in the party was really amazing. Granted, he was drinking. Then again, all of C3's kids minus SJ were drinking. (...and eventually those three disappeared, but I'll go into that later.) Having spent a little time with him when fewer non-immediate family members were present, I know he's a funny guy. It was nice that my parents got to see that, too. He has a girlfriend! She lives in Hong Kong, but still. He went to an anime convention! SJ took him and they even stayed at a hotel. She got a video of him getting slapped by some girl; he paid $5 for the privilege. It sounds like he's a big reader and admitted that he's reading the Bible because his girlfriend is religious, like she's in some sort of commune or something. That's not the right term but we'll go with it. He was kind of philosophical. And, weirdly, he was really good with Kevin's son. They were hilarious together, even though Little Man kept referring to him as "the guy who said cooties." It took a while but we did get Little Man to call him by his name--and then we promptly gave them nicknames. Kevin has a coworker that calls everyone "Leroy," so that's what Kevin was calling Little Man, and then somehow C3's son started getting called Melvin, so they were the comedy duo of Leroy and Melvin. I tell you, in a decade they can take that act on the road; Leroy has to be old enough to drive first. (Melvin did take driver's ed but he does not have a license.) They were good for quite a while up until Leroy decided to tie up Melvin using this rope he found in the yard, and that wasn't a big deal, but then Leroy gave Melvin a big hug and that's about when Melvin noped on out of there. SJ said that her brother does not like to be touched, which partially explained why he never sat down, and that was probably the breaking point for him. And also the apparent vat of Guinness he'd downed. But considering this was the most we've seen of him at a party in his lifetime, we were pretty impressed.
The big news was that the girls--C3 and the daughters living at home--were about to go on a cruise while the boys stayed home. Turned out C3's best friend was getting married on some island off Florida. However, C3 was having some paperwork issues. Unbeknownst to us, she was not given a name immediately after she was born. She was the third daughter in a row and her father was none too pleased at not getting a son, so she wasn't named while they were still in the hospital. Her birth certificate reads "Female." Like that's her given name. It's only come up recently in trying to get a Real ID. My parents ran into something similar, since my father's name was misspelled on his birth certificate, and mom had to prove how she got from her maiden name to her current last name, as she had a husband before my dad. Since C3 also had a previous marriage, mom warned her about that, too, as mom was sort of blindsided the first time she went for her Real ID and didn't have all the paperwork she needed.
Speaking of first marriages, we got more of the lowdown on my goddaughter's situation. Back at Aunt D's services, my mom got the feeling things were not hunky-dory with my goddaughter and her husband, and then at some point in the past year or so she came back to live with her parents. (I hadn't realized that my cousin's husband kept taking down the wall for the downstairs bedroom whenever someone left; it always must have happened after she had a party. But the wall keeps going back up because people keep needing that room. Also, he's retired now and is redoing the house. The living and dining rooms have now flip-flopped for the first time since I can recall, and the kitchen has been redone. The family room is now the holding pen for everything cleared out of the rest of the rooms but he's planning on tackling that next.) Leah and I both were wondering what was up with my goddaughter; she's separated from her husband but they're not planning to divorce. There's no animosity, but during the pandemic she was still working but living with her mother-in-law, who has health issues and didn't want anyone coming or going. My goddaughter effectively was kicked out of the house. She stayed with friends for a while before coming back home. It sounds like neither of them want to go through the hassle of officially divorcing. I mean, if they're both okay with the situation, whatever. She seems like she's in good spirits so that's good. She too also had a fair amount of liquid spirits and by the time we left had retired to her room as she had a headache.
You may notice there hasn't been much mention of the guest of honor. She was part of the party for a while, starting off in a dress, then changing to shorts and a shirt since most people were dressed pretty casually and the dress wasn't staying in place on top (she said it was annoying her). Her dad had told her she could have a drink if she wanted...and she wanted. I only recall her having one bottle of something peachy, but she apparently had multiples on an empty stomach. This resulted in a peach-colored mess in her room, and for a while several of the ladies disappeared to help clean her up and get her into bed. Great. This was why I was so impressed with SJ; she said she was the only one of her siblings who'd never been drunk. Good for you. You're my favorite.
I didn't end up spending a lot of time with most of the others. Prior to the party, I'd wondered how I'd act around Kevin and Leah, since I have a sneaking suspicion her family ultimately is the reason my dad and I came down with the second bout of covid. When they arrived, they were busy giving everyone hugs but due to where I was standing I didn't get one. Kevin actually came up to me and side-hugged me a while later since he hadn't earlier. Honestly? All was well. We picked up where we left off. It did help me to hear that Leah did end up with covid at one point, having lost her sense of taste for a week. I think I found that out when I mentioned the whole air pollution issue, which has been giving me grief at times when I breathe. (Yay rain last night--we had clear blue skies this morning for the first time in weeks.) We still have smokers in the family, though. C3's husband, Kevin, and Leah all smoke cigarettes, and my goddaughter uses a vape. C3's husband was hurt on the job and lost full usage of his thumb and first two fingers on his right hand, so he was using a candle lighter with a binder clip on it as his cigarette lighter. At one point he took out a fresh cigarette but didn't have the lighter nearby; Little Man ran over to where it was and brought it to him. Like, I don't want to see the 6-year-old being helpful in this case, you know? It's not the '80s anymore.
All told, though, we had a really nice time. We said we should be going a while before we actually left, and in fact my dad had gone out to the car and was waiting for us while mom was still yakking away with C3 and C1. Like, mom, dad came through here about 10 minutes ago; she was waiting for him to come past. Dad had had a few beers so I was mildly nervous about the ride home, which is why when we got to Route 83 and he noticed the new restaurant across the street, and he went "Waffles!" because that was its name, I was like, "Traffic!" because 83's speed limit is at least 45 MPH right there, which really means anywhere between 50-60. Seriously, dad, pay attention. And of course it really freaked us out to wake up the next morning and see that waffle place in the live shot from the news coverage of the Willowbrook mass shooting. We still don't exactly know what all happened over there but the news cycle has moved on and things have calmed down. It still sucks that it marred an otherwise nice evening, but I'm very thankful our family wasn't involved.