James turns 21, and I finally get some sleep

I woke up at 4 AM in the home of people I've never met, but they are friends of friends, and they offered me a crash pad in Portland (ME) because I had a 6 AM flight out. By 4:30 I was at the airport, returning the rental car. By 4:50 I was through security, and Starbucks hadn't even opened up (but 10 minutes later, you better believe there were lines.) I got to JFK, and Josh was there to pick me up. I got home, and James was waiting on the porch to greet me. And it wasn't even 8 AM yet! We hung out and talked, we cleaned up, I put together some bookshelves that had arrived while I was away, I went to Fairway to pick up the birthday cake I had pre-ordered while I was up in Maine (literally, while I was sitting on the floor of a woods path, swatting mosquitoes) and some ingredients for party food, I swung back home by 1:30, and Josh and James had set up the drinks and made signs. I made salmon dip, cut up crudité, and made little appetizers of aged gouda, melon, and fresh garden mint on toothpicks. I hung up some decorative lights, the guys took showers, I never did get one, but I threw on a dress, put my hair up, and even put on lipstick. At 3 PM, party time, the three of us decided to play a game because it's always awkward to wait for a party to start. One short round later, friends started to show up, and wow what a party it was! I stupidly did not have my camera out. Not even sure what I was thinking. Yes, I know what I was thinking. I was meeting people, greeting people. People who have been incredibly important in James' life for far far longer than Josh and I have. Spectacular people. Generous people. Brilliant people. Fun people. Politically active people. BTW, I'm pretty much describing everyone at the party here—it's not that some were brilliant and some were fun and some were generous and some were politicized. No, this was an outstanding group of people all come together to celebrate with us as James steps into the American definition of adulthood. I had a GREAT time at this party. I was filled with a mixture of gratitude and excitement. And I forgot to take photos. The party did that thing that parties do. It wound down at the time it was supposed to get over, and then a small group of folks hung out in the living room and talked and talked and talked. Some of us already knew each other, some were neighbors with each other but didn't really know each other, some were close already for years. Before I knew it it was 9, and we cleaned up, and before I knew it it was 10, and I was barely staying awake. And so we get to my  selfish joyful moment of the long joyful day. I went to bed at 10 PM. I left dishes in the sink, and I went to bed. I even fell asleep, and as it turned out, I stayed asleep for 9 hours, while the world spun without me.