Kids + New Years = No More Partying

We had a good run, didn't we?

There were so many awesome New Years parties, weren't there?  Yep, there sure were.  But we are in a lean time here... the recent New Years have not been up to par with the parties of the past.  And I'm not sure how this year will go yet.  

Let me count 'em down for you, as best as I can remember.  As long as ten years ago, the parties were awesome. 

• Celebrating the coming of 1999 and 2000, I spent New Years at my friend, Mike Walsh's, family restaurant -- Duffy's Tavern in West Haven, Connecticut.  The night began with a full dinner and the party would go from zero to sixty quickly from there, with full restaurant sing-a-longs and a full open bar.  Nice and full.  The restaurant was closed to the public those nights, so we had the place to ourselves, just me, Mike, his wife, and his fifty closest friends.  Good times.
  
• In celebration of 2001, I returned to Duffy's Tavern, but this time with my future Wonderful Wife.  I had flown her into town just in time for the party, and just in time to ride shotgun with me and everything I owned on the way to my new residence in the Deep South.  I remember exactly what she wore that night: a black catsuit that would slap the eyes out of your head.  I was stunned by her beauty, and I'll never forget how she looked that night no matter how hard the drinking throughout the rest of the night tried to erase it.
  
• With the coming of 2002, I celebrated with my Future Wonderful Wife and her entire dance team in New Orleans.  She had gotten a gig to dance for a corporate party and we were all flown in for the show.  I made friends with a bunch of people I would never see again, but still had a great trip, and an interesting New Years.
  
• To ring in 2003, my FWW and I, along with roommates Howie and Darryl, threw the party to establish all other parties.  Holy moly.  I think we crammed 50 people into our apartment and I spent the night playing bartender to a thirsty crowd.  People still talk about the Chocolate Martinis that were shaken that night.  
  
• The following year, we met good friends of ours at a local watering hole, only to find out at 10:30 PM that they were closing at 11:00 PM  (were they serious?).  So we invited those few people over to our new house to watch Dick Clark count down to 2004.  Disaster averted.
  
• In honor of 2005, a friend of ours hosted a party of their closest friends where I attempted to reprise my role as bartender.  It was a lot of fun, however I learned the hard way that the bartender should not taste everyone's drink to "make sure it tastes okay."  
  
• My WW and I decided that it would be best to ring in the new year 2006 at home with our 29 day old child.  And so it was that we napped until 11:30 PM, and woke up in time to feed the kid and watch the ball drop.
  
• We decided to try to recreate some of the party magic that happened back in 2003 to bring in 2007.  After a run to the walk-in clinic to diagnose our kid's ear and sinus infections, we dropped the kids off at the In-Laws and got the party started.  It was a lot of fun, but nowhere near the hootenanny that happened a few years earlier.  The party was somewhat dampened by the downpour that was happening outside, but the atmosphere was warm inside and our friend all had a great time.
• On the eve of 2008, we brought our kids back to the walk-in clinic for what seemed to be our annual New Years Eve ritual visit and diagnosis.  This time, however, they were too sick to leave with the In-Laws.  We dropped them off long enough for WW and I to have a quiet dinner at a local sushi/thai fusion restaurant, and then took them home for an early bedtime.  I remember watching A-Rod on Dick Clark's TV program thinking, "he is working hard to get his contract".  That was one of the highlights of the evening, I'm afraid.  (Anything Yankees related on TV is notable to me now that I'm in Braves country.)

And here we are!  Ready to ring in 2009.  We took the kids to our annual walk-in clinic visit early this year and they are over the worst of their ailments.  I don't want to jinx it, but we might actually be able to have ourselves a party night!  Here's the catch -- one of us has to drive!  

Of course, you might say.  Isn't that the way it always is?  Sure, for you, maybe.  But for me, at all of the recent 10 years worth of partying, I had a ride or I was staying where I was partying.  This year poses a different challenge.  We aren't planning on getting a ride, and we aren't staying where we might be going.  

So I am volunteering to stay sober.

(pausing for that to sink in)

(Deep Breath)

Yep.  No drinky.  

Ok, maybe a beer early in the night and a toast at midnight, but other than that, nada.  I have done it before -- I stock up on energy drinks and get my high from the caffeine rush.  I can play bartender, and that is fun for me and everyone else I concoct my drinks for.  It's just as much fun as getting my drink on, up to a certain point.  Once people start getting sloppy, it's no longer fun.  Mostly because they aren't funny anymore, just sloppy.  And then I feel like I have to take care of them, and that's no fun either.  When you drink, you are pressing the "no responsibility" selection on the menu.  When you don't, you are choosing the "i'll take care of your drunk ass" button.

At least the kids will be at the In Laws.