90 Years on Planet Earth...

TO HAVE A 90TH BIRTHDAY PARTY OR NOT TO HAVE A 90TH BIRTHDAY PARTY! THAT WAS THE QUESTION…

Nov 02, 2023

TO HAVE A 90^TH BIRTHDAY PARTY OR NOT TO HAVE A 90^TH BIRTHDAY PARTY! THAT WAS THE QUESTION…

CON: Money! It’s going to cost a lot of money.

PRO: Having this party is the perfect way to leave this planet with an overdraft on all my accounts. HOORAY!!!

CON: Some member of the family or a friend is going to be left out and you’ve made an enemy for life.

PRO: Been there. Done that. Look at my age. How much longer do they have to hate me?

CON: After a year of working on your memoir, Not Yet, you just completed the first edit. You keep pushing yourself like this you won’t be around to complete the next edit.

PRO: Not to worry, if I kick the bucket before I complete my memoir, will someone do what I am doing and make it all up and finish the damn thing.

CON: Nothing I say is going to change your mind.

PRO: What mind? It left me many years ago.

My dear friends and family, those of you invited, those of you whose invitations got lost in the mail, those of you that didn’t get an invitation, you are in my heart and lost mind as I write to tell you, with all the pros and cons my 90^th MAD HATTER DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE BIRTHDAY TEA PARTY DANCE at The Mount was the cat’s pajamas. Translation: It was the best party ever.

Prior to my arrival, doubts flooded my mind and I silently castigated myself for being so vain and foolish.

“You really let your ego runaway with your brainball this time, SJ!”

And then I entered the gallery where people gathered to select their Mad Hatter hats and greet each other and the magic of it engulfed all my senses.

I was hugged and kissed and hugged and kissed… all right already, some with, some without masks. The party was on the terrace of The Mount and I haven’t heard of anyone that left accompanied by a variant.

Then came the moment when I knew.... when it all became clear to me there were no CONS to this gathering… only PROS.

I looked out at good friends and family and thought, THIS IS GOOD. THIS IS VERY GOOD.

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In a world of disconnect there was that rare and brilliant sound of connection. Cell phones brought out only to take photos of each other to remember being together… really together. The buzz of people filling each other’s ears with their latest happenings, health concerns, highs and lows of life as it rolls by us year by year. Thank Goodness. The buzz of human connection is like the cry of the newborn… filled with awe, joy, love; and that extra special something today that is in dire short supply… hope.

And let me tell you that the most important ingredient for a great party are the people... It’s the people that make a good party a great party. The shared love, laughter, and celebration were contagious.

Money is only good if you can use it like manure to watch things grow and boy, oh, boy, did it grow: the brilliant venue, Edith Wharton’s home in the Berkshires, The Mount (Susan Wissler and Susan Consolati and her fantastic team); a great band, Wanda Houston and her wonderful quartet; Extraordinary Food by Dillon Pickering; creative set designs and Wonderland Props by Aja O'han; Humorously absurd and inspirational graphic invitation designs by Peter Pierce and Trish Mead; postage by USPS; Project Manager Extraordinaire Lynnette Najimy.

So the question is answered. Yes! Yes! Yes! If I had it to do all over again, I would have a 90^th Birthday celebration and invite the sad and limping world we all live in today to come to my party. Just to remind them that as we struggle to make sense of what doesn’t make sense, we make sure we look across the table or the room and see in the reflections of our eyeballs each other’s absurdities and humanity. I am you. You are me.

Right??? Of course, right!!!

Love, Sally-Jane ❤️