Bat Mitzvah Party

Alaina led the service extremely well. Her Torah portion was smooth and her speech heartfelt and meaningful. And was the service ever speedy! One hour exactly, which is quite short for a Torah service. Before the party opened, adults and kids wrote notes to Alaina on my pages.

The adults shmoozed over drinks while the kids played games with the DJ inside. I thought this was a great idea--we didn't have to hear them play "Coke and Pepsi" and other loud bat mitzvah games. My older cousins, Alexa's best friend, and I ordered Shirley Temples from the bar and chatted. When we went inside the ballroom, the desserts were all spread out like this:
Isn't it pretty? There were skewers of chocolate-dipped marshmallows, chocolate caramel apples, chocolate-dipped pretzels and more.

I was seated at the big kids table--my older cousins, 2 of Alexa's friends, and a couple about my age. Molly and I experimented with my camera.
Molly is a camp counselor, and also likes to dance, so she, my mom and I danced quite a bit. Having gone to many a bar/bat mitzvah in my day, I know many line dances, and so does my mom. We rocked out to The Electric Slide, the Cha-Cha Slide, and Cotton Eye Joe. We started grooving our heads off to YMCA, then looked over at the 13 year olds to find them standing in a tight pack and boucing slightly. Apparently they only dance during the letter part of that song, omitting the pointing during the "young man" portion. We sat down, a bit embarassed but laughing at ourselves. The DJ played some 80's music and got all of the adults up and dancing. One of Kim's friend and her boyfriend were especially, uh, enthusiastic on the dance floor. All of the 13-year-olds and many of the adults stopped dancing to watch. "It's like the sun," I remarked. "You can't look away, but it hurts to look." "Someone's gonna get pregnant out there," added Lisa.

Elisa or Sheryl wanted some group shots of the Stangers. She took the first few herself.

Then she called on the male half of the dancing couple (who were catching their breath) for assistance with a full group shot. He lined us up, asked if we were ready, and did away with the more typical "Say cheese!" in favor of a graphic and utterly complete crotch-grab. You can tell who saw from this next photo.
As the music shifted back to today's hip-hop, the adults in my family drifted out to "our" couch in the lobby. Most likely Elisa has said something obscene, provoking the reactions from my mom and her sisters. That's my dad on the end.