RSVP Means Respond Please!

Can someone explain to me what part of RSVP is so difficult to understand?  The letters come from the french expression "respondez s'il vous plait" or in plain English "please respond".  That means as the receiver of that invitation you must contact the host/hostess and note if you are attending or if you are not attending.  It does not mean sit on your ass and do nothing.

I am throwing a surprise party (more to come on this in later blog post) and I was careful to send out the invites 5 weeks in advance of the date.  Clearly I asked for an RSVP.  I was even considerate enough to offer a phone number and an email for my guest's convenience.  And guess what?  The day before the RSVP date, I have one...yes one...response out of the 50 people invited.  Are you kidding me?

What this means is that I have to call all these people to see if they are attending. It means I have to find phone numbers and schedule time to make these calls.   It means I have to delay responding to the caterer on food and drink order.  It means I have to delay my respond to the venue on how to set up tables.  It means a giant headache when I am trying to do a nice thing.

Therefore, if you are a person who feels he/she is beyond RSVP, let me assure you that you are being rude and difficult.  Call your host/hostess when you are invited to an event and RSVP! If you honestly did not know what RSVP meant, well I have educated you.

Definition of Thoughtfulness

My husband is a very generous and thoughtful man.  He has an exceptional talent for getting the perfect gifts for the people he cares about.  This year for my birthday, he epitomized the word thoughtful.

For several weeks before my birthday, he kept telling me that he has finally gotten me something that I am always bugging him for.  It's not too expensive and it is not jewelry, so I really had not idea.  At first I thought those Christian Louboutin shoes..no he said that was superficial, then I thought a new fur coat...no he said that was redundant.  I started wondering what stupid thing I brought up that I was no longer interested in.  I know it is shocking but I may sometimes have a short attention span.

Well he did it.  He bought me tickets to see Madame Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC.  You may be saying, so what?  Let me explain why this is so thoughtful.  Matty and I started our love of opera together when we lived in Detroit.  Before each opera, we would buy the CD and listen to it prior to attending the performance.  Every time we travel, we try to get opera tickets.

Since we have started seeing opera, I have begged him to get tickets to the Met.  We tried on several occasions and each time, our timing was off.  Either they were sold out or we just couldn't coordinate it.   Every time we go to the Regal theaters and see that advertisement for Opera at the Met on the live screen,  I gently punch him and complain that the Met will go bankrupt before I get there.

So the first weekend of December we will be flying to NYC to see my favorite opera at the most desirable venue.  We have hotel and dining plans to add to this winter escape to NY.  Best of all, my husband also purchased a ticket for Max.  He knew that I would want to expose Max to the joy of opera - even though Max is not nearly as thrilled.

Matty worked on getting these tickets for months.  Three fabulous seats for a Saturday night performance.  I could not be more excited.  Can you find a better definition of thoughtful? How ever will I find a comparable gift for his Sept. birthday?

Sailing Away

My husband is combating middle age by scheduling adventures.  It's been scuba, ballooning and talk of sky diving. Lucky for me I have been invited to, included in, and required for many of these events.  Our most recent is sailing.

He bought sailing lessons through Seven Seas Sailing School near the grain elevators.  The building is unimpressive to say the least, but the instructors are fabulous.  I thought I could learn some terminology and be fine.  Not so.  There is a ton to learn...jibe ho, tack port, in irons...this is a bit of work.  Our first lessons were informative and a bit daunting, but I have to say I was enjoying myself.

We did our first water sail last weekend.  To start, the instructor cut his hand on some rigging. Then we noticed a line stuck in the propeller - one of the students (an 50 something year old man) dove into the water to cut it loose.  It was trouble starting up but the winds were beautiful and I enjoyed our few hours in the sun.

Sunday we did our second sail on the water.  I was feeling confident until I noticed the high winds and the expression of pure delight on our instructor's face.  Our instructor is an adorable 20 something young man who sails 18 - 20 hours a weekend.  The boy was born to teach and you can tell he loves it. He and Max were checking out hotties on a smaller sail boat last week, a glance that almost had us crash into another boat.  But I digress...

This week I manned the main sail while Matty manipulated the jib and Max drove with the tiller.  We tacked right and I swear the boat tipped to it's side and we were parallel to the water!  My hair could have hit the waves, had I not been hanging on for dear life.  As smiles filled everyone else's face, I screamed to let the main sail loose so we slow down and lift up.  As main sail operator - I performed flawlessly and we were back in mellow territory.  Why am I the only one fearful of death but capsized sailboat?

One of the skills you learn by taking lessons is to perform a man overboard drill.  After seeing what needs to be done, I made Max promise me that he would never fall off the boat while sailing because I would have to leave him there.  When someone falls off a sailboat, you have to keep going until you are about 20 boat lengths away and then turn around to get close enough to pick him up but not too close to have the wind push the boat into him.  Keep in mind this is a 26 ft boat!  I cannot believe our crew was able to do this twice!  My contribution was simply watching the flotation device designated as the man overboard.

After two hours my palms were raw from gripping the lines, my face was permanently stuck in fear and my hair was wind blown.  It was time to dock.  The other couple with us did their best and just gently tapped the dock.  All safely returned to land. Not sure how those women on TV manage to look so graceful on a sailboat.  I was basically crawling around on my hands and knees - very UN ladylike.

It is definitely exhilarating to be on the water gliding through the wind, but also terrifying.  We have one more lesson and then we can be tested.  Once we pass, we can take out a sailboat on our own.  I can't see this happening.  The boys love it and Matty is already pricing used sailboats.  God help me.