Kiki’s Party

Kiki’s big party was last night. Very little turned out the way that we had planned. We intended to have sleep over and take the group out to go see Nancy Drew in the theater. It was only after I sent out invitations that I noticed that the release date had been pushed back by a month. So I had to send out a paper saying that we’d go see The Last Mimzy instead. Apparently RSVP means “have your daughter tell my daughter that she can’t come or alternately that she can come but may she bring a friend.” Yes that is right. One of my daughter’s birthday party guests called on the day of the party to ask if she could bring her friend with her. But it was okay because we had an extra ticket because another girl canceled at the last minute. Oh, and no one was staying the night. The one guest and her friend did come back in the morning for breakfast, but when they arrived they announced that they had already eaten.

Kiki had fun. That is the important thing. I need to remember that because the whole experience has left me grumpy. I’m grumpy and I have a newfound resolve to ALWAYS respond when an invitation says RSVP. I also have a huge bowl full of waffle batter that will probably go to waste. Fortunately Howard was able to find volunteers to help us eat up the dutch oven pizza from last night.

At least the movie was a good choice. All the girls enjoyed it, or said they did. Listening to the chatter on the way to the movie was like being transported back to middle school. They all talked about boys in their class and who liked whom. Kiki, who isn’t interested in boys that way yet, handled things the same way I did at that age. She happily chattered about other people without saying a word about her own interests. During my stint as chauffeur I realized that the girl who invited a friend along, invites this same friend to everything. She would chatter about how her family was going to go pick up her grandma or that she wanted to go to the mall, or how she intended to take trip to a park. No matter what the plan was she’d turn to the friend and say “you should come!” I had a picture of this poor quiet friend being dragged everywhere as a sort of human security blanket. Also, preteen girls don’t make statements, they make exclamations. And they interrupt themselves lots. And they pretend to be embarrassed about things they really want to reveal. I had friends like that. They were soothing because I didn’t have to do much talking. I think Kiki finds them soothing for the same reasons.

Anyway it is all over now and I think it was a good birthday for Kiki.