Again with the going away

We're headed out of town for the weekend - going about four hours southeast to my aunt's 50th birthday party. Sounds like a blast, doesn't it?

Actually it probably will be. My aunts and uncles? Know how to party. And this is a 3-day long one. I just hope that I'm able to function come Monday.

The first time we had one of these big 50th birthday bashes for one of my mom's siblings (she has 7) was when I was 17. We all met in Chicago for a weekend, and I didn't quite know what I was in for. The first whole day was spent at a bar, followed by a dinner with bottles of wine. The second day was more of the same followed by a dinner at a "cheap" Mexican restaurant in Boys Town. Our bill was over $500 (which, I admit, for 18 people is not bad) but way more than half of that was booze. My aunts kept pushing shots of tequila my way, but I kept pushing them back: I was 17! I came from a small sheltered town! My mom was there! I never drank (well, okay, there was that once, but still)!

I managed to get away without having to imbibe anything alcoholic, but what I did not miss out on was the major food fight that my aunts and uncles were having. Tortillas were flying, my grandpa was shooting ice from between his fingers with surprising accuracy, and various people were having rice stuck in their hair and down the backs of their shirts. The waitstaff didn't notice or didn't want to deal with what was going on, so they kept brining us more ammo in the form of pitchers of ice and packets of tortillas. I feel bad for the people sitting around us, because I know that there was at least one guy at the table behind us that got beaned in the head with a tortilla or other foodstuffs at least twice.

But more than anything? It was fun. And I still remember it all like it was yesterday. This weekend will probably be more fun than the last for me, because I'm now old enough to participate in the debauchery instead of watching from the sidelines (not so sheltered anymore, ma!). We're leaving in just an hour or two and I have a lot of packing to do, but I am having trouble not just stuffing things in a suitcase and getting the heck on my way. Wish me luck!