Visiting with my brother, his wife, and my nephew and niece, over Christmas break we were talking about places where we’ve lived. My nephew has lived in several interesting places in Oakland and environs. One of them was a pump house. He talked about the fact that they could have live bands there because they weren’t in a residential area. My brother asked if any one had ever crashed these parties. Once, my nephew said. After one of the songs was over he just asked the guys to leave, and they did, no problems.
I said, “I crashed a party.”
“When?” my niece asked.
“A year ago last summer.” They all broke out laughing. I hadn’t looked for that response but then saw immediately that they were expecting this to have occurred in my youth, not as a then 57 year old woman. I had to tell the story. At first my brother seemed a little disapproving but as the story progressed he ended up laughing out loud.
I had gone to the Getty Museum with my teaching partner, and her youngest son, just out of 7th grade. When I got home it was about 9 PM. I fed the cats and was just hanging out in the front yard with them, enjoying the cool of the evening. Just north of me, behind the houses on the other side of the street, runs a flood control channel. Beyond that is another housing tract, with larger homes and 3 car garages. As I sat outside I could hear live music drifting down from one of those homes. The music sounded good. It came to me that I should go check it out. If I had been in my usual summer work-in-the-yard attire I wouldn’t have considered it. But I was still wearing my visit-to-the-Getty clothes. So I got in the car and headed north to the street up above the channel. I drove slowly down the street, with my window down. When I saw all the cars and heard the music I knew I found the party. I parked behind a chartered bus and sat for a minute asking myself, “Am I really going to do this?” What the heck.
The gates were open that lead down the driveway to the garage. In front of the garage were two tables piled high with gifts. The silver and gold wrapping lead me to believe that this was a wedding reception. I walked down the side of the garage, following the music. The band was set up in a grass area just behind the garage and the dance floor and tables were behind the house.
Just as I got there the band stopped playing. Four people, one of them the mother of the bride (I could just tell who she was, and saw later that I was correct), had taken over the mic and were trying to sing, “You’re just too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you…” They were having a hard time, stopping and starting again. The crowd was getting a little restless. I was near the little stage and I walked a little closer and told the mother, “You need to start higher” and demonstrated. She grabbed my arm and said, “Come on, we need your help.” So I joined them and we sang the song through, successfully, getting a good round of applause at the conclusion. And I got a hug from the mom.
The band started playing shortly after that and I danced. And danced. And danced. When the inevitable video camera came around I just was careful to turn my back to it. I left about 11:30.
I didn’t eat any of the food, or drink any of the drinks, and I did help them sing their song, and lots of people came over to dance with me, so I think it was a positive experience for all.
It would be interesting to hear the questions later when they view their videos. “Who is that dancing? That was the woman who sang with Mom, wasn’t it? Was she a friend of yours? Whose friend was she?”
I will probably never crash a wedding party again, the perfect circumstances being unlikely, but I’m glad I was…”The Mysterious Wedding Party Crasher”, just once.
(But I'm not ruling out birthday parties...)
Recalled Dec. 2008, from a summer party, 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment