Going back and re-tracing my steps from the beginning it’s been nuts just to think about where I’ve been. My day started off with my sister and I going to Loveland to join my family for Mass (I usually go in Fort Collins, and usually I end up playing drums at the Saturday night Mass, so it was a bit weird for me to have to go to Mass on Sunday first off, then secondly have to go to Loveland.. But that’s where my sister Amanda wanted to go.. Afterwards we got some food, ran some errands and came back home. While I was at home I worked with my uncle to repair the gate at my parent’s house (the freakin’ dog knocked a huge hole in it and always gets out), then helped my mom get ready for my sister’s "real party" (and I burned a hole in my finger during the process), then went to the "real party", came back and watched my first NASCAR Race on TV, switching back with the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, then ended my day by drinking a lot of beer and playing Mexican Train with my family…. So yeah it’s been another long day.
About this weekend though (and something I said I would explain a bit)
1) The "Real Party" – So with my sister graduating high school, she (along with everyone else) wants to have a party.
Sidenote: Who the heck came up with the idea of the graduation party. I understand you want to celebrate your achievement and go out and have a good time – I get that. I understand that a lot of times the party isn’t so much about you, but about your friends and family who have a chance to celebrate you or to do nice things for you. I get that as well. But I still don’t get the concept of having a party while everyone else is having a party, then expecting people to show up. Whether it’s high school or college graduation, it never changes. As an underclassman you’re expected to go to these parties or run the risk of tarnashing your friendship ranking with that person. And if you’re a graduating senior don’t even think about being able to go to other people’s parties. You have your own to tend to, but what do you do? I’ve seen people leave their parties to go to other people’s parties (like my sister). That defeats the whole purpose of the graduation party.
So my sister Amanda, (whom I love dearly, but being whom she is often have a challenging time with) decides not only to have one party but to have to parties. Well check that – at first she only wanted one party, but it was the one she wanted to throw jointly with two of her other friends. Well somehow she forgot to mention any of this to our family when they were going through the decision making process "Ooops!", and all of the sudden we had a party that our family was slated to go to & help prepare for. While all of this was going on, my mom, being the awesome mom that she is, is already actively in the planning stages of our family/friends party of our own… I know that party planning is a lot of stress, but I know that in my heart of hearts my mom really wants to throw the party. Like I said in my little sidenote – the party isn’t always so much about the person being honored as it is for the friends and family of that person. Well my sister didn’t realize this, so all of the sudden we’re faced with two parties that are competing against each other. And while we were going through and setting forth our plans to celebrate my sister at our family/friend party, my sister was actively sending out invitations and planning logistics for the "real party" that was going on with her two friends.
So over the last few weeks that his gotten really ugly and our family is taking it’s usual sides ( the ENTIRE family vs. my sister). Both my oldest sister and I were probably the most frustrated because here we were doing all of this work out of the sense of respect and the notion of support for my other, while my sister couldn’t care less and had virtually no stock in this party that was being thrown for her. She really didn’t invite anyone (as she was inviting them all to the "real party"). So this left us all with a bitter taste in our mouth.
So we went and did both parties. The family one turned out to be really nice. Like I said, virtually no one came, but we had some great family up there. My uncle from Texas has been up all weekend, and then I had an aunt and cousin up here yesterday as well - people I haven’t seen in a long time. So it turned out to be really nice, very relaxed and we just had a good time.
The "real party" went about as well as I expected. There were a ton of people there, but really no one that I knew. I showed up, ate some pretty good food, listened to the band there, talked with my sisters some more and then took off less than 2 hours later.
But now at least our drama-filled weekend is over. I think it’s funny that my mind has been so weighted by these high school graduation situations, but when it comes to my sister Amanda, everything become a big deal… But now she’s off to Boston for the summer in less than 48 hours, so here comes the next scramble/drama/adventure. While I’m really going to miss my sister I’m also looking forward to the stress level at my parent’s house going down about 15 notches by the end of the week.
Tomorrow is another big day. My uncle is taking off Tuesday, so I’m going to try to get some more quality family time and enjoy my day off of work. We’re heading down to the Rockies game tomorrow night, something I’m a bit concerned about because it is COLD!! I don’t know what happened to the weather, but today we didn’t get back 60 and it turned out to be a downpour this afternoon. I’m just hoping that the rain holds out tomorrow and lets us have this game. Fireworks are going on tomorrow night as well – should be a good show.
I’m happy…
Also I bought some movie tickets for Thursday, as I think I might come down with a case of "Star Wars-itus" *cough* *cough* and might have to miss a few hours of work around lunch-time…
Looks like it’s going to be an exciting week ahead!
