Party girl no more

Oh, I’m still a Dem, I just can’t party anymore. I guess Andrew and I put away a bottle plus of wine pretty fast last night, carelessly, in the rush of talk about politics, protest, art, business, workouts, religion, sweethearts and the future of newspapers. A little after midnight — not feeling particularly sloshed — I fell happily asleep in the pleasant room Andrew had prepared so nicely for me. The cool Denver night came in through the open window and I had a great feeling of momentum, the drive had been beautiful — though 13 hours long — and I was looking forward to going downtown in the morning.

But at about 5am I woke up in a sweat and knew immediately that I had screwed up bigtime. A hangover! A big one too, 7.5 on the doof scale (where 10 is when you beg to be put out of your misery and you mean it). And that was that, I was up and paying the price and by 5:30, my host was up too — actually being cheerful and offering help.

Poor Andrew! He was expecting a guest, not a patient or a fraternity pledge. How embarrassing. But Andrew and I go a long way back now and he has pretty much seen it all. Gracious as always, he wasn’t cross with me. He set me up with house keys, a transportation map and Denver info and went off to work today saying he would meet me anytime for coffee or lunch downtown. A lovely idea, but not possible. There were aftershocks all day long.

About an hour ago, the thing started to let go of me and I got up and made the bed, took care of the ice chest, set myself up to watch the convention on msnbc.com, sat quietly in Andrew’s serene apartment. I got my nerve up and tried a little of the cut watermelon Val sent with me and I’m actually feeling half human. Tonight, I’m pretty sure I will be together enough to take Andrew out for a nice dinner.

Andrew seemed in the pink this morning, doing his workout, going to the office. I guess I was pushing it — the long drive, the altitude, the last days of being 47 — these things add up. Well, I’m paying attention now.

Tomorrow I’m 48 and I’ll be sending some news from downtown Denver. Today, a nap might be in order.