The Perfect Party

Yesterday I had a perfect party.

Other than my annual Christmas thing, I rarely have people over. Those who know me were surprised I was having a party.

Today is the official graduation for our Master's program. A group of us did the whole two-year program together, off-campus. Most of us chose not to attend graduation for that reason.

It didn't feel right to not have a celebration at all.

So I decided to have everyone over my place.

I was going to order food, but ended up making everything. My sweetie also helped. We found graduation platters at the grocery store which were overpriced but too perfect to pass up. I tried to get the perfect snacks to put out. I bought soda of every kind (cans this time because we never finish the bottles.

I hadn't said to RSVP, so as of yesterday I only knew of two people that were coming with their husbands. I'd said the party was at 2. I didn't really expect anyone til 3. The days leading up to it were filled with worry that no one was coming. At 3:30, when no one was there, more worry kicked in.

Finally, the first person arrived. We chatted and just when my anxiety over entertaining one kicked in, everyone else came. We had all but one of the people who did the entire program together at my house.

I had worried about space, but it turned out perfectly. The food was perfect. Some people brought desserts so I have a ton of desserts left over (and a reasonable amount of other food). The real food was eaten the most and everyone had clean plates (a good sign). The conversation flowed nicely.

I discovered that hosting was the perfect role for me because there was less pressure to be part of the conversation. I could busy myself keeping food and drink going.

Someone was thoughtful enough to bring champagne so as the party wound down, we had a toast. Within the next half hour, people left. It was the perfect amount of time.

Clean-up was easy (they were much neater than my family).

Really, I thought it was the most perfect graduation party ever. Perfect amount of people, the right amount of space, perfect mix of food, perfect atmosphere, perfect amount of time, and the right closure for what was an incredible program and a stellar group of people.

I feel incredible today.