Everything's Fine

It's funny what's truly essential in a party. Of course there is the matter of people, if you're going to get deep and sentimental. Don't do that. Let's just focus on practical matters that don't require us to really take stock in life. That's hard and often painful. The material things in life are never either, although the acquisition of them is often both. At any rate, what I prefer to think of being essential to a party is definitely inanimate, although it is not what one might think.

Of course the reasonable thinking would be that liquor is essential. As they say, it lubricates social interactions, and a race of beings that is under ordinary circumstances too awkward to live suddenly manages it for at least an evening. The liquor is important, but much easier to come by than one might guess. Everybody's thinking alcohol, and many if not most make sure to provide some. Little do they expect what else is important.

There has got to be something non-alcoholic on hand. For one thing, non-booze drinks are great for mixing with booze. For another, there is a hardy minority that must drive or cannot take too much alcohol for another reason. The impulse is to ridicule that person, but you do so at some considerable risk. Dismiss drunken driving if you will, but denying the lightweight drinker a soft drink is asking for trouble where the carpeting and furniture are concerned.

Perhaps even more important than alcohol and its antithesis is food. Booze is expected to be on hand, but food, especially if hot, is like a miracle delivered by God Almighty. Who doesn't like to be treated like a benevolent deity sometimes? It often takes as little as some burgers to achieve it, so why not make that trivial effort? I thank my lucky stars to have picked a St Patrick's Day party whose host thinks that way. Food and soft drinks are truly the key.