Happy New Year
Most people will be waking up this morning to a brand new year. I on the other hand never really went to bed. I can now proudly state that I have passed the parenting milestone known as “staying up all night with your teenager after they drink themselves to a standstill at a party”.
I’m not going to go into details, because she’s horrified enough as it is – suffice to say I stayed up all night, she was very, very ill, and this morning she is remarkably ok. She now has one hell of a story to tell – a right of passage in a way. I’m just thankful she did it at a party we were at, and not among strangers in a bar.
Quite how I managed to get her home is something of a miracle. I spirited her out of the party through a side door, and then slowly – very slowly – made our way home. We were passed by several groups of revelers along the way – each of them stopping to offer help. She remembers none of it.
It’s probably worth noting that the evening went off the rails well after midnight – we had all cheered in the new year as the radio stations counted down, and raised a glass together. We had spent a wonderful evening in the company of great friends, shared funny stories, ate fantastic food, and brought in the new year with smiles and laughter.
Quite how I’m going to make it through today is another question entirely – we have invited most of the people from the party to our house for the afternoon – an attempt to eat everything left from Christmas, and to see those that couldn’t make it last night.
I’m guessing Miss 17 will hear many, many stories from our friends about their first time drinking too much. As I made my way home last night, everybody that stopped to help laughed and commented “I remember doing that – I’ve been there – got the t-shirt”.
I’m guessing that will be the t-shirt with carrot chunks down it…