By Lisabet Sarai
It's hard for me to believe, but in
January 2013, I will turn sixty. Am I looking forward to beginning my
seventh decade? Well, as they say, getting old is better than the
alternative!
My mother died at fifty-two. One of my
dearest friends succumbed to ovarian cancer at fifty-four. Life is
always uncertain. My reaction to that hard fact? Celebrate whatever
and whenever you can. Thus, even though we really can't afford it,
we're throwing a massive party to celebrate my hitting the big
Six-Oh. It only happens once!
Since I live in the tropics, the party
will be outdoors, on the terrace of an oceanfront hotel. We'll have a
buffet dinner, wine and beer, plus an open bar. I'm hoping to hire a
band, though I haven't located one yet. In my view, it's not a party
if there's no dancing.
The hotel wanted me to commit to a
minimum head count. That's pretty tough, since the majority of people
I'm inviting live in the U.S. I know from personal experience how
difficult and expensive it is to travel halfway around the world.
I've tried to balance realism with wishful thinking in my estimate of
forty people. I was amused to find that the hotel thinks this is a
small party.
In fact, several of my prospective
guests have already told me they're coming. I'm thrilled, although
some close friends have regretfully declined as well. The RSVP
deadline is still several months away, so I'm keeping my fingers
crossed. Of course, if everyone invited actually showed up, we'd be
way over budget. Not that I'd begrudge the money – it would be
worth it.
Meanwhile, the event has given me the
opportunity to reestablish contact with people I haven't heard from
in a long time. I sent invitations to friends I figured wouldn't be able
to make it, just to open the lines of communication and let them know that I thinking about them, that I'd
love them to be here if it were at all possible.
The whole process has been great fun so
far – finding a venue, deciding on the menu, creating invitations
and the guest list, handling responses – and I'm looking forward
not just to the party itself but to all the interactions leading up
to the event. I haven't entertained at this scale since my siblings
and I organized my dad's eightieth birthday party a decade ago. I'm
trying hard not to think about the possible disasters that could
derail our plans. Worrying won't prevent these negative happenings,
but it certainly will tarnish the pleasure of anticipation.
My only regret is that I haven't been
able to invite people from the world of Lisabet Sarai, even though I
count some of you among my closest friends. I'd love to celebrate
with you. However, for serious practical reasons, I need to keep my
writing life strictly separate from my so-called real life. With one
or two exceptions, most of my invited guests know nothing about my
erotic self. If my writing colleagues were to mingle with these
innocent friends from my non-erotic existence, the risk of
inadvertent exposure would skyrocket – despite the best intentions.
I think I need to plan another
gathering, in either the U.S. or the U.K. (or maybe both!), strictly
for my writing friends. What a fantasy – to meet you all in the
flesh, swap gossip, share readings, drink and dance and revel in the
company of fellow outlaws. I love living in Asia, but I'm pretty
isolated from the erotica community. I'm definitely going to try
putting a party together next time I'm headed for western climes.
For one thing, that will give me
something to look forward to, after this birthday bash is history.
