We threw a party yesterday

Larry and I got married on May 14 and spent our honeymoon in Crete. For various reasons (budget, venue size, etc.) we had to limit the number of people we invited to the wedding and reception. Yesterday we had an "open house" party and invited all the local folks (and a few out-of-towners) who were invited to the wedding, along with everyone we had wanted to invite but didn't. Larry spent about 12 hours in the kitchen, cooking up a load of Cretan-style food from recipes out of a couple of Greek Islands cookbooks. I set up my iMac in the dining room with the photos from our honeymoon running as a slide show, and I put most of the photographer's proofs from the wedding in albums so folks could look at them. We thawed out some of the leftover wedding cake. (It is still very fresh-tasting and yummy - I had some for breakfast this morning.

I noticed myself imagining the folks at the party who weren't invited to the wedding would feel insulted at being shown photos of the event to which they were not invited. A few of the non-wedding-invitees showed up with gifts - so that gave me the chance to worry that they thought the party invite implied that we expected more gifts. And, of course, once the party got started I worried about whether everyone was being sufficiently entertained, conversed with, etc.

Sheesh.

Despite all my anxieties, I had a great time. And everyone else seemed to have a good time, too. They ate a lot and and drank a lot of the Greek wine we were serving. I got to show off my new husband and my new-to-me home. I got to talk with a lot of people I care about and whose company I enjoy. I got to, once again, see the surprise on someone's face when my friend Judy tells them that she's known me for more than 30 years.

Today, I'm thinking that Larry and I have great friends. They all have some fine qualities in common - intelligence, many interests, a good sense of humor, and a love of the new and different.

Now I have to go the the rug cleaners to drop off the rug that someone spill a bottle of porter on. That's a sign of a good party, I think - having to take at least one item to the cleaners the next day.