6:30 - Rush over to Brocach, the Irish pub where tons of family and friends from every part of my life are waiting for me (Mandy from junior high/high school, Ann and Erin from college, Garcias, Swalwells, Dad and Karen, Abbey and Eric, Bobby, etc.)... those poor servers had their hands full
8:00 - Head over to the basement of the Argus where my best friends have helped set up food and decorations... including posters Dad made of pictures from every year of my life - yes, even god-awful ugly pictures like the huge blue glasses I had or the costume that makes me look like a leopard / hot dog creature with a penchant for sequins. You don't want to see it.
8:30 - Start dancing (which doesn't really stop for another several hours) - the band (Tani Diakite & Co.) was a Malian blues band that knocked my socks off. Both Dad and Rob played djembe with them. I was totally impressed with my friends' energy and willingness to dance like nobody's watching. That's pretty much all I did all night... I could have talked with everyone who came, but I mostly just smiled, waved, and kept dancing. The only time I stopped was to hear my dad give an incredible toast to me and our family welcoming everyone (several people told me later that they called their dads that night to tell them they loved them) and to blow out my candles on the GF/DF cake that Abbey had made for me. Amazing.
10:00 - Talk several of my girlfriends out of leaving their boyfriends for Robert given his incredible charm and unbelievably delicious guacamole (said one of my friends the next day: "If I had to choose to go to your party again or sit in a closet and eat that guac, I'd choose the guac").
11:00 - Start an ill-fated drinking contest with Robert every time the band leader says "Thank you!" ... let's just say that whenever I heard some say "Thank you" during the next week, I tasted gin and tonic.
12:00ish - Pack up and head home after the band finishes its grand finale. Best part of the drive home is Eric getting pulled over and being issued a ticket. The streets of Madison were so much safer, let me tell you. I have no doubt in my mind that Eric was the most sober person driving in Madison that night. It was ridiculous. I'm mostly just impressed that Rob and I kept our mouths shut. Eric, of course, was a perfect gentleman to a very misguided traffic officer.
6 am - Realize how bad an idea it was to get involved in a drinking contest with Robert. I realized this on half hour intervals for awhile, actually.
8 am - Get up with Abbey, Eric, and Rob to go over to the hotel so we can say goodbye to Garcias, Swalwells, and my Dad and Karen... I think I should win some sort of award for being able to actually accomplish the movement needed to do this. It was slow going, but worth it.
10 am - Rob makes me a delicious breakfast, we nap, and then drive to Milwaukee so he can catch his plane with a quick stop at Jamerica for a snack. What an incredible weekend.
Everyone who couldn't be there was definitely there in spirit. And I'm pretty sure I'll hire this band again for my graduation party... though instead of drinking gin and tonics every time Tani says "Thank you", I think I'll just give high fives.
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