People and parties

So a friend of mine is having a great little children's Halloween party this weekend. We received our invite about a month ago and have been looking forward to it ever since. The kids are invited to wear costumes and bring a goody bag so that they can collect some treats. She's been buying deocrations for the house and working on recipes that will be fun for the kids and tasty for the adults, while sticking with the Halloween theme. Like me, she lives in a smaller house so didn't invite the whole world to come.

Then, the inevitable happened. Everyone started canceling. One right after another. It's sad, really. Today, she called me in disbelief...wondering if she should try to reschedule or just hold the party for the TWO kids (including my own) who are able to attend. She decided to hold it anyway and here is why:

People are notorious for this. It's the reason I only hold one party at year now at my home. They always say they're coming, then cancel for one reason or another. "We are now going out of town," "Child is sick," "Family decided to come and visit that weekend," are all excuses I've heard one too many times. And the biggest culprits are parents.

Listen folks, I don't want to offend anyone, but we have to be more sensitive to other people when they are putting forth an effort to be a friend. Obviously things come up. Unexpected emergencies happen. And in these cases, you are clearly off the hook. But there are too many times when people back out of a gathering and give an excuse...when really the excuse is that they just don't feel like going any more. It's been a bad day. They're tired. Whatever. It's inconsiderate...especially when done at the very last minute.

I feel really bad for my friend. She is one of the best friends I've been blessed to know and she doesn't deserve this. Now she's left with tons of food that won't get eaten. What's worse, she's left with hurt feelings...wondering if people just don't like her. I can't tell you how many times I've asked myself the same question. Why, oh why aren't people ever available to come to my parties? Do they just not like me?

I've been as guilty as everyone else of backing out of something for less than good reasons. But I, for one, am committing not to do so again. After all, I could use the friendships.