I Would Not Drive That Far

My oldest has been invited to a birthday party for the girlfriend of a friend. He has only met the girlfriend a couple of times, though he talks to her online. The party is in Waxahachie, about 58 miles away. In our conversation today he told me he was planning on going to the party after he attends a conference tomorrow afternoon. My comment to him was I would not go that far for an acquaintance. He asked me what I meant.

I explained to him that I would only travel that far to a party if it was for "Sis", BFF, L , M, or their family members or family members of mine that I like. I told him I could not think of anyone else I would drive that far for at this time in my life. Heck I have turned down four parties this year that were less than three miles from my house.

The oldest thought I was trying to convince him not to go, and while I admit I was trying to make him think more about whether he should go or not, I was not going to tell him to stay home.

I know there are people out there that will go to any party, any place, for any body, and in my much younger years, I did that a few times, but these days I'd rather stay home and watch a movie than try to make small talk with a bunch of people I barely know. You can only spend so much time at a party talking about the decorations, food, how you know the host/hostess, the weather, and your children, before you have to find other topics of discussion. My interests never seem to connect to the people at parties I attend.

I like to discuss politics (yes, I know a big social no-no). Since I am a liberal and most of the people I know are very conservative, it is not something I can discuss at a party.

I like to read, and I read a variety of things, not just the books listed on this blog. It is very difficult to come across readers. Usually when I am at a party and bring up a book or an article I have just read all I hear back is "I'm too busy to read," which makes me feel (1) like a slacker because I make the time to read, (2) irritated that I am not home reading.

Sports always seems to be a big hit topic at parties I attend. The last two parties I attended ended up being a "sport" watching party, even though they did not start out that way. One was a birthday party and the other was a holiday party, but someone just had to check a score and why not on the big screen in the room of the party instead of the smaller tv in the back room. Next thing you know everyone is gathered around screaming and shaking their fists at the game on the screen, and the birthday celebration was forgotten, and I doubt they even remembered it was a holiday. As my BFF can confirm, I do not keep up with sports. I am not interested at all, but I always try to make sure I know who is playing in the Super Bowl and the World Series just so I have some idea if the topic comes up at a party.

So no, I would not drive to Waxahachie for an acquaintance. If the oldest does decide to go, I hope he has a good time, but if he doesn't have a good time I hope he pays attention to how far he drove.