A Quare Attitude to Parties ~ Gatherings from Ireland # 335

I’m kinda curious to find out if m/any people share my attitude to parties. Maybe, I should just say my attitude to party invitations.

I’ve had an absolute, and I mean ABSOLUTE, aversion to parties since I was a child. I have no idea how or why it all started but the mere sighting of a  party invitation with my name on it has sent me into paroxysms of panic for as long as I can remember.

My poor mother did her best to iron out this ‘quirk’  with a whole combination of approaches: listening, cajoling, accompanying, finding a perfect party-piece that didn’t involve singing, buying me lovely party outfits, letting me wear whatever I wanted …..

Our debacles came to a head just before the Christmas when I was eleven. A colourful party invitation fell in the door along with the millions of Christmas cards that did the rounds in those days.  I went into immediate ‘flight’ mode and saw to my amazement that the ‘fight’ had gone out of Mother. She just knew that this had the makings of ruining Christmas for everyone and agreed that it was okay for me not to go. I still remember the relief  and being able to breathe and live again after that heart-stopping moment.

I always loved lying on Mother’s bed ‘helping’ her to get ready for parties; trying on her shimmery necklace that seemed to go with everything and zipping up her silky dress.  I’ve also spent decades adoring novels where parties abound ~ The Great Gatsby; Pride and Prejudice ….. Mills and Boon, you name it, I’ve partied with them!

But, absolutely nothing has changed. I’d still face having to address the Nation rather than go to a party or anything that had the makings of turning into one.

I was looking at party invitations and this one jumped out at me:

I wonder if the time has come to ‘wear purple’ and make up for lost time?

So is the world divided between ‘Party Animals’ and ‘Others?’  Where do you fit in? Did you always fit in where you fit in now?