Remembering Who You Are, Part 4

Ah, Leslie...

Leslie: "Fire and Rain costume at the V Street Party, and how that night altered people's brains. :P...Oh, and I think you knocked down the mirror ball and used the mirrors to accessorize your face. But I can't remember too well. Wonder why."Wed at 9:11pm

Leslie is my sister Cat's best friend; we'll hear from Colleen's best friend a little later on in the series. Leslie's parents were retired, and spent most of their time living in their house on the Cape, leaving their primary residence for Leslie, and her brother Mike, off and on, to live in here in Norwood. The parties that were thrown in that house are the stuff of legend. Truly. Three floors of general madness, and all of us old enough to know what we were doing at that point. Basement was generally the ice luge and the dance floor (not in the same room, clearly); main floor was the party essentials--food, booze, chairs, door to the back porch for smoking; third floor, well, what was the upper floor in a party house generally used for in most 80s teen movies? And that dance floor was WELL USED. There is a DJ here in Norwood that keeps our favorite dance songs in his kit at all times, on the off chance he should run into all of us at a function. We could throw down.

Leslie, also being a terrific geek like me, would frequently throw a themed party. She's referencing a party she threw, in 2000, maybe, that was a "Dress As Your Favorite Song" party. Guests had to come in their best interpretation of their favorite song. And, since our friends are highly creative, the night was pretty incredibly funny. I myself was NOT Fire and Rain; that honor went to my friend Kristian, who also is the one decorating people's faces with the broken mirror ball. You remember, dance floor in the basement. That night, I actually had three costumes, as I could not decide. My first was me wrapped in blue streamers; the second was me draped in 50 cent rosary beads, crucifixes cut off and being "lost" all over the party; the third was me, with bandaids on my face, and handcuffs dangling from my wrist. I'll let you all see if you can guess my three songs.

There are rumors of a video camera being hidden in the bookshelf downstairs, filming the dance floor all night at this particular party. I shudder to think of what that footage contains. I don't actually have a picture of Leslie and I from that party, although I have many pictures of Leslie from OTHER parties, including Cat's 30th birthday, which, as I remember, was pretty indicative of all of those V Street evenings. I also leave you with music from those enchanted evenings, but truly, I don't think you're ready for this jelly. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Leslie, for being in so many of my memories, those retrieved and those sacrificed to the party gods as well.

In this picture, Leslie is on the left, my sister Colleen is on the right, and her best friend is in the middle. I could write a book. This picture was taken at our infamous Holiday Mixer in 2007. Such a good time, and one confirmed pregnancy after that one was said and done, too.