Saturday, November 30, 2013

A Party At Ryan's Daughter

Photo: The Drink Nation
In early November, I was invited to a party to celebrate the results of a local election. It was held at a cozy bar on Manhattan's Upper East Side called Ryan's Daughter. 

The party was to be low key and mellow, so despite the anticipation of not knowing many faces, I decided to drop in for a drink and appetizer to say hello.

Ryan's Daughter is a neighborhood bar. There is no hostess. But as I entered the small establishment, I could hear people cheering, so I followed the voices, which lead me to the celebration. 

Upon entering the party, already in progress, I was greeted by a lovely woman. She pointed to a nice spread and told me to fill up a plate with food. Even though my invitation said, there would be food, it turned out to be more elaborate than I expected.

I met other friendly people and stood around eating and chatting with them. A photographer took pictures, and my new "friends" gathered around me, and we all leaned in for the photos ... to go into a newsletter I thought.

After a respectable amount of time, I decided to leave. I said my goodbyes, made my way to the exit of the bar ... was just about to step out ... when all of a sudden, I realized I had spent an hour at the wrong "private" party -- as the uninvited guest at a baby shower!  The party that actually sent me an invitation was taking place in another section of the bar -- an area I was just now seeing for the first time. I was mortified and horrified! It was an honest mistake. This could happen to anyone, right!? Yikes!

So I ended up staying an hour longer, because in fact, I hadn't yet attended the party. Even with encouragement, I couldn't eat another bite.

Oh, and can you imagine what the people at the first party will think when they look at their photographs to see a strange woman, with a big smiley face, brazenly posing with their friends? 
OMG!! (Who is that woman! She ate our food!! What the hell!!! Did anybody bring her?!?)

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3 comments:

  1. Ah Debra, so funny! I went to the wrong funeral a couple of years ago, the mother of a friend. Signed the book, took my place, was looking for a familiar face and eventually realised what has happened. It was difficult to find a suitable moment to exit the chapel...

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  2. Out in suburbia where I live, they have country clubs (I am being polite, these are "catering halls") where multiple events happen at one time. You can guess the outcome here, I arrived for an event- actually a Bar Mitzvah for some distant relative not even on my side of the family. After an hour of stiff drinks and salty hors d'ouvres and asking myself "why don't I recognize anybody?", the obvious and correct conclusion dawned on me- I had gone to the wrong party!!! I toasted the lucky 13 year old and then made me way to the correct party. But your story sounds like at least you were having some fun.

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  3. Oh thank you, Patricia and Barry! So funny. (Oh, the funeral had to be the worst!) Thank goodness, I'm not the only one!

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