The Party’s Over, The Memory Remains
After almost every party I’ve ever given, there is an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote (from Tender is the Night) that somewhat encapsulates what I feel:
… One of his characteristic moods was upon him, the excitement that swept everyone up into it and was inevitably followed by his own form of melancholy, which he never displayed, but at which she guessed. This excitement about things reached an intensity out of proportion to their importance, generating a really extraordinary virtuosity with people. Save among a few of the tough-minded and perennially suspicious, he had the power of arousing a fascinated and uncritical love. The reaction came when he realized the waste and extravagance involved. He sometimes looked back with awe at the carnivals of affection he had given, as a general might gaze upon a massacre he had ordered to satisfy an impersonal blood lust.
You’d think that after throwing a wedding reception for 200 people I might feel this way more than ever, but you’d be wrong. For perhaps the first time, it was all worth it, and Andy and I will harbor the memories of that evening like a treasured gift from an old friend.
Once I get all the party photos together, I’ll post a few more. For now, and forever, it will reside in our memory bank, a safe-guarded jewel that we will have when the weather turns cold and the world turns bleak.