Going Away Dinner

My cousin Jason is in the Army; he's already been to Iraq twice; and he's being sent there again. He leaves for Wisconsin next Sunday, and then 400 days in Iraq. He just got married last summer, and I feel so bad for his wife Jada. She's trying to hold it together, but I can't even imagine that.

Anyway, my aunt had another going away party for him. She's had one each time, and each time we've all gone. The first time, the whole town of Shady was there along with our family, and his dad's side of the family. This time, it was mainly just family and about 5 of his mom's friends.

The night started ok; everyone was getting along pretty well. Granted, we were all waiting outside the restaurant for an hour because Aunt Penny only called in a reservation for 20 rather than reserving the party room. We ended up having 31 people there...It was unbelievably cramped and uncomfortable both physically and psychologically. I'm claustrophobic and have issues with social anxiety, so needless to say cramming 31 people (10 of whom I didn't know) into space meant for 20 was not a pleasant experience for me. After the dinner was good; I got to talk to the Jason and Jada and the members of my family who are remotely close to my age. It was just during dinner that sucked. It didn't help that I wasn't sure if I was ok to eat or not.