Beer Revelations

This past weekend I had my kegger. Yep. A real keg party. Not quite as classless as college, but a real kegger nonetheless. I sent out paper invites with a picture of a keg on it. I had the yard all decorated, 100 brats, beer pong, quarters and flip cup. I had 2 kegs, 8 cases of beer, 2 gallons of kamikaze, and 75 jello shots. Not to mention the rest of the food and drink. It was nuts. 100 people came. And had fun!

We also did a benefit walk and brat fry Saturday morning for Tara - the little girl who has cancer. (www.teamtara.net for donations!) It was seriously amazing. During the walk, Eric and I did a bit of the hike with my friend Amy. I questioned aloud how it was possible that I was having a kegger at 37 years old. And she gave me a wonderful compliment by saying that it was a party lots of people would like to have, but are just too scared. (I pointed out that there's a thin line between scared and stupid!) When I really thought about it, I decided that when Jim was alive, he was my on/off switch. If I wanted to have a really big party, Jim would have let me. He would have kept me calm (or at least tried). He would have helped me set up and he would have been a wonderful host. But more often than not, when I came up with a hairbrained scheme like having a kegger, Jim would let me run through the possible scenarios and then either shoot the idea down, or wait it out until I saw something shiny, went in another direction, and forgot about my idea. But Jim died, and now I'm dating Eric. And when I said to Eric "maybe I should have a kegger...", Eric said "GREAT IDEA!" And then I actually followed through. So...in short...I blame Eric. :)

I was so nervous before the party that I basically let it ruin my day. I was sick to my stomach. Eric tried to calm me down. My friends Tom and Deitmar came and help me set up. Eric did a ton of work to help me get everything ready. Then more of my friends showed up to help me prepare and place food, set out cups, etc. I was so terrified that for the first half of the party I didn't speak to anyone for more than around three minutes. I was just too scared and I wanted to make sure I got to greet everyone. Halfway through the party I calmed down. I looked around. I realized that the party was a success. And then I relaxed and enjoyed the party. I spoke to people for ever so slightly more than three minutes. I drank some beer. And I had fun.

It's fun to rehash the evening with everyone. It was good to cut loose and have fun, and see so many other people having fun. It's good to hear the stories and share my own. It was a once in a lifetime party that I truly had fun throwing. I was delighted to see so many friends. It meant a lot to me.

Thanks to so many people who made my party work. Eric, first and foremost. Amy and Todd, for the beer. Liz and Tom and Deitmar and Cassandra for all the hard work - setting up, offering tables and chairs, and clean up. Susan and Ken, Amy, Lisa and John for setting up, making me laugh, and all the prep. Rob and Ann for the late night beer run. Thanks to all my friends who brought food. Thanks to those who showed up although they knew very few people. And thanks to those who came to party, drink beer, and have fun with me. You have no idea what it meant to me. It may have seemed like just a keg party, but it was an awesome night that I did "on my own" - my first big huge party without Jim. It was an accomplishment.