Parties on the mind

Two themes for this evening's musings: Mary's birthday party and the Yahoo Christmas Party.

Mary just turned 3 years old and Alice was invited to her birthday party. This was Alice's first official invitation to a non-family birthday party, so I was wondering about protocol. Are the parents invited? Do we stay for the whole thing? Is it okay to take pictures? How long ARE these kid parties anyway? And then there's the gift...uh, what do we give a 3-year-old?

We decided that only I would go with Alice. Half the parents stayed, half the parents left. Marianne and Albert had a whole series of fun and inventive physical games for the kids to play. They played a version of musical chairs where the kid who ended up without a chair actually won a little card with an animal on it. When everyone had cards, Marianne would give clues to describe a certain animal. If that animal was yours, then it was your turn to give Mary the present you brought her. Kind of a fun way to do things, I thought. All very positive. Unfortunately, the present we brought for Mary wasn't one of those "fun-to-unwrap" sorts of gifts. It was a "free pass" to an indoor playtime put on by our local park district.

Alice didn't seem to understand the games, and she often wandered over to the toys in the corner, but she had a great time all the same. She sat patiently for cake and ice cream, then attacked her plate with her hands once it arrived. Alice recently decided she doesn't like her hands dirty, though, so it was quite a process to grab a handful of cake, eat it, wipe her hands on her pants, and then go for another bite. She decided to use a fork after the first couple bites :) Smart girl.

Bobby has already touched on the Yahoo party. A strange thing happened in the middle of the evening, however, that I'd like to ponder a bit. I was sitting there eating dinner when suddenly it struck me...Where am I? Am I in Utah? No, I'm in Illinois. This feels SO MUCH like I'm in Utah! I even had to ask Bobby which state we were in.

Now what on earth could have triggered such confusion? I thought about it a moment and then realized it was the people drinking alcohol that had reminded me of Utah. As an undergrad at the University of Utah, I worked in a neuroscience research lab. It was a pretty cohesive social environment. We spent a lot of time together as a lab working days and late nights, camping, traveling to conferences, hiking the Tetons, skiing, going out to birthday lunches, etc. At all of the after-hours functions, there was alcohol. My coworkers drank responsibly and they respected my choice not to drink, but alcohol was ALWAYS involved.

When Bobby and I moved out to Illinois, the school environment was very different. The lab was different. Alcohol consumption all but disappeared from my view. Suddenly, at this Yahoo dinner, I was once again surrounded by people casually enjoying their alcoholic beverages with friends. It was intensely familiar and freakishly foreign at the same time. No other experience throughout my 5+ years here in Illinois has stirred up that kind of memory and confusion. How can it be that alcohol reminds me of Utah?! Of all places to connect to alcohol?! I'm still boggled by the realization.