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An Invitation to the Party
Reflections on who would be by my side for Auld Lang Syne
Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, the night for endings and beginnings, for reminiscing on old times past and for welcoming new opportunities. I’ve been tagged by Tommy Paley to conjure up my perfect guest list for a New Year’s Eve party. As I contemplate the invitations, I realize I can’t consider who would be the present company without first revisiting the acquaintances from years gone by. My guest list, it seems, depends on the decade in which it is inscribed.
1976
Sixteen years old, going on ageless — I ducked into the Rainbow Room at LLove, the short-lived entertainment venue at Love Field Airport in Dallas, Texas. My friends and I, clad in bell-bottom blue jeans and platform clogs, danced to Jungle Boogie by Kool & The Gang. We flirted with the DJ and sipped flat colas in plastic cups until our youth minister chaperone evicted us, reminded us we were there with our church youth group. Ice skating, not disco was the agenda for that New Year’s.
That year I would invite Billie Jean King, my feminist tennis icon after winning her Battle of the Sexes in 1973. Elton John, the crush to my teenage angst, would be on the list. I knew every word to Someone Saved My Life Tonight. I still do.
1980
