Northern New Year

For the second year in a row my wife decided we were going to celebrate New Years with the Maine Musquetera in northern Maine.  She feels the same way about New Year’s Eve that I do about Christmas so I try to make the day as special as possible for her and acquiesce to her requirements.  That means getting her around people who will be dancing and be appropriately festive when the midnight hour turns.

PanaGal and Wife Ready to PArty

Of course I still had to go into work yesterday so it turned out to be a long day, but well worth the effort.  We waved hello to my son as we passed Portsmouth in the late afternoon where he reported he had contracted the ABFA’s family cold over the holiday.  We continued north and ran into my favorite part of the trip – Maine now has seventy miles per hour speed limits!  I became an immediate fan of the increase in traffic speed and we made incredibly fast progress – the whole trip from Worcester to Waterville was accomplished in a little over three hours.  The PanaGal was nervously checking the outside temperature figure on the dashboard.  We lost about two degrees for every ten miles we journeyed north.  It was a crisp 11 degrees when we pulled into the Maine Musquetera’s home.

Dinner Portion of Party

The first order of business was some emergency shopping (we’re talking PanaGals here).  My wife forgot several important items of underclothing.  She appreciated neither my comment about going “commando” nor my suggestion she borrow some from the Maine Musquetera (the difference in their natural endowment is startlingly extreme). 

Our Table

I had fun comparing notes with the Maine Musquetera’s husband about marriage to a Latina (alright there was also the first beers of the night involved).  They had rented a storefront in downtown Waterville and invited all their friends to assemble with food and beverages to mark the New Year.  I discovered my wife is something of a celebrity amongst the Maine Musquetera’s friends based on the welcome she was provided.

Then Of Course the Dancing

There was entirely too much food to even think about consuming but we gave it a solid effort.  I focused on my usual role of beer control.  The group was an interesting mix of young and old, Latins and Maine Yankees.  As soon as the food was dispensed with, the dancing started.  There was a bit of controversy as the music drew in the crowd of college aged children and their friends from their separate party they had established out in the hallway (too cool to be in same room as their parents – don’t you know).

Colle Aged Crowd under the Clock Stopping the Dance

The “kids” tried to rescue their parents who obviously knew nothing about music.  The dancing stopped almost immediately as some strange tunes started emanating.  I asked my obviously miffed wife why the kids were dancing to their chosen tunes but just standing around.  That sentiment circled the hall until the kids ushered themselves away from the disgruntled crowd (actually we were all having fun with them).

Wife and Maine Musquetera (Red Dress)Waving From Dance Floor

Wife and I

It was at this point that the PanaGal stepped up to save the dancing.  She’d brought her personal collection of dance tunes from Panama and they soon had the entire adult crowd cutting the rug on the dance floor.  The only rest room was two floors above where the party was and involved a passage through the college crowd, up two separate sets of stairs and down a couple obscure hallways.  I eventually forged a trail to the hidden location as my beer inventory reduction had the predictable requirements.  As I walked out I noticed the Waterville City Council chambers were next to the rest rooms.  Only in a small town would you find a New Year’s Eve party in the same building as completely unguarded town government offices – I thought that was kind of cool.

Restful Chambers

2015 was appropriately greeted when it presented itself all too quickly.  We shared a very fun conversation back to 2014 with our wrong coasted daughter and WingMan who still had three hours of 2014 to burn.  We all agreed that my son achieved lightweight status by failing to overcome his severe cold and be awake to greet the New Year.  I saw him today on our way home and revoked that assessment – he looked like hell. 

Who's a Lucky Guy!!!!!

So, we’ve got 2015 to deal with now.  2014 was too fast to even contemplate – a disturbing trend as the years pile up.   However it was a fun year with some life changing events that all turned out better than we could have hoped so I’m going to assume an optimistic stance heading in.  I’m so glad I’m married to thee New Year’s Eve party gal – I would probably have been a couch potato last night instead of spending it dancing and meeting new friends; just a great time. 

Two Very Lucky Guys!