The UNniversary Party

I'm exhausted and mildly hung over, but it was so worth it!

There were about 20 of us meeting at That Bar in Danville.  At first, I was just going to get there early and save a bunch of tables and chairs.  Then I decided that would be too much work, so I rented the private section right behind the pianos.  Everyone arrived between 6:00 and 7:00 and dueling pianos started at 8:00.  I wanted to make buttons for everyone but I didn't know until last minute how many people were coming.  So, instead, I bought name tags.  I brought those and a bunch of different colored sharpies to the bar and wrote "Happy Jen's UNniversary!" in a color matching each person's outfit.  Because I like to color coordinate.  Because I'm awesome.  I made one for myself that said "Kiss Me, it's my UNniversary!"

I had told the woman who rented me the room what I was celebrating and she told one of the piano players.  He thought it was awesome so he asked me to explain to the entire bar what an UNniversary Party was and then he sang Uptown Girl to me.  Then, a little later, he asked me to come on stage and sit on his piano (piano actually means piano in this story).  He changed the lyrics to the song 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover to 50 Ways to Give a Hummer.  He figured that since I'm single, I should know how to do that.  (Joke's on him, because I already do!  Hah!)  It was awful, I just hate being the center of attention.  It was hilarious!  One of my friends video taped the whole thing on her phone and another friend took pictures.  First thing I did after hopping off his piano (still just a piano) was check how my cottage cheese thighs looked in the photos.  Not too bad.  Good to know I've been starving myself for a reason.

All the people at the tables directly in front of the pianos became my friends.  One group bought me a song: Hit the Road Jack!  Appropriate, no?  A group of ladies bought me a drink.  A woman in another group pulled me onto the dance floor and made all the men in her group kiss me.  Later on, a woman came up to me and said, "Would you do me a favor?  Would you go over to the man in the orange shirt and dance with him?  He's my boyfriend, he'll love it!"  Kind of awkward, but whatevs, weirder things have happened.

Throughout the night several women approached me, hugged me, and told me that they were divorced too, and an UNniversary Party is such a cool idea.  One woman told her friend they should have an UNniversary Party for a friend of theirs who just got divorced.  I feel like I should start a company that throws parties for divorced people.  I could call it "I guess not until death events."  Let's see, there's The Burn Party, The House Cleansing Party, The Divorce Party, The Name Change Party, The Divorceaversary (or Divorceavegasry) Party , The UNniversary Party...I could make a fortune!

My group started trickling out around 9:30 and by the end of the night, the only people still with me were my friend, my sister and my parents!  They totally outlasted even my youngest friends!  I am so grateful to my family and friends who were able to come out and support me.  It was the best UNniversary I've ever had.