Had a really rough time last night.

[bif]

As I mentioned in another thread, it's been three years and I'm doing great, overall. But last night I went with my wife to an engagement party for a friend's daughter. I've skipped a lot of parties and my wife's okay with going solo. We have a game plan, where I have an out. I usually stay for a while and then ghost. I really hate parties where I only know a few people, and hate making small talk.

So before going last night, I told her I was probably going to leave early. When we got there, some of her book club friends were there. I talked to them for a bit but they hang out together. I spent a lot of time standing around feeling out of place. But what really bugged me was everyone had a drink in their hands the whole time. And they were making frequent trips to the bar. I knew they'd all be wasted in short order, so I told my wife I was leaving and she was okay with it. I did end up staying an hour and a half, but my wife didn't get home until 11. That would have been hanging around with drunks for 5 hours! I'm thinking of just not going to these events at all in the future.

Ugh! The old me would have had a few drinks and made small talk the whole evening. But I would have ended up getting pretty hammered. The new me is way better off it it just means skipping parties like this.