I know that I have mentioned I am very close to my family. Well, have I mentioned that this family I love so dearly is huge, crazy, and very Irish Catholic? The “Papa” on my moms side who has held the glue together is my grandpa Terry and this weekend, we celebrated his 80th birthday. The proud father of 6, grandfather of 14, and great grandfather of 3 has touched the lives of many and continues to crack jokes and converse with anyone who will listen. What does an 80th birthday consist of you may ask? In a typical family, it might be a brunch, dinner, or family get together. Things are a little more elaborate in my family.
Of course we were planning to do something for him but my grandmother, who is one of the most active, wine drinking, lipstick wearing grandma I’ve ever met, insisted we throw him a party. She and my grandpa have been “hibernating” in Florida since December 26 so her help has consisted of phone calls to my mom and aunts telling them what needed to happen, who needs to be there, and what we should all wear. After several yelling matches (all out of love) and a final guest list (96 people!) the party was coming together. So here we are, in a large bar and banquet hall at the Knights of Columbus celebrating the birth of a wonderful man. Oh yeah…did I mention it was from 7pm-11:30pm, there was an open bar, and a DJ? This Papa knows how to party.
The entire family, his friends, my grandma’s hairdresser, and several other people gathered to eat, drink, and toast. There were speeches, “Top 10 things we love about Pa” from the grandchildren, and cake cutting. Because it was such a late night event, there was no way my almost 6 month old son could stay for the whole thing so my husband and baby left around 8:45pm. After this, I’m not sure what happened. Before I realized what was happening, tables were being moved to create a dance floor, one cocktail turned into four or five, and this party for senior citizens turned into a rager. Did I really think that because my son and husband left, so did my responsibilities? The cupid shuffle started playing and when my grandpa hit the dance floor for that song and the booty call, it was all over for me. I was dancing, singing, laughing, and DRINKING. Before I realized it, this mama was toasted and the party was over. But wait, all of my cousins and sisters were going to an after party at my one cousins house. The fam started chanting “Party Michelle, Party Michelle” and the next thing I knew, I was calling my husband asking if I could spend the night out (I kinda felt like I was calling my parents from a party in high school, a little nervous). I haven’t spent a night away since Brody was born, this felt weird. He said that was fine but remember, I had to be home early because he had plans to golf with buddies and had to leave the house at 8am. Not a problem! I’m up at 6:30 every day. So, my party continued. There was more dancing, more drinking, more laughs, and eventually I was eating an entire bag of pretzels at 3am.
Sunday morning was like a nightmare. Not only was it daylight savings so I lost an hour (planned that well!) but my total hours of sleep was approximately 3 and I felt like I was hit by a Mack truck. When I got home, I was secretly praying that Brody was still asleep because there was no way I could function as fun mommy for at least 2 hours. I dragged my tired self up the stairs and into my room where my two boys were laying in bed watching SportsCenter, wide awake. “Brody, Mommy doesn’t look so good this morning. I think she needs to brush her teeth before she can kiss you.” Let me tell you, no amount of toothpaste could take the taste of nasty beer out of my mouth. What was I thinking?
A night as party Michelle with my family was amazing but morphing into functioning mom the next day was next to impossible. I had to suck it up because I had no choice but all day, I was counting down the minutes until my husband would be home so I could take a nap. So, here is a warning. The next time you go to an 80th birthday party, make sure you have a babysitter for the night AND the entire next day because you never know what state you might get into when you are celebrating such a long, amazing life.
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