Saturday, June 4, 2011

Pin The Tail On The Donkey At Eric's Party

I lost at Pin The Tail On The Donkey.
This weekend, about 33 years ago, was Eric's birthday. Eric was my friend in first grade. He lived in a big, beautiful Tudor style house. It was a corner house shaded by oversized trees and greenery. It was unlike any home I had ever seen as a child. In high school a buddy of ours lovingly referred to Eric's home as "Stately Manor."

If you ask me about any birthday parties from that year, I honestly cannot recall them. Although the memories of that day are somewhat cloudy and confused, here's what I do remember ... For one, I loved Eric's parents. They were classy, artistic, sophisticated -- like city folk in the suburbs -- and I liked that about them. They were different than my other classmates' parents. 
I was a dancing machine!
I remember that Eric's sixth birthday was the only party I ever attended that had a dance contest. Let me tell you, I needed to win this dance contest. I leaped on top of a table and gave it my all and somehow boogied my way into winning a handful of pencils. I swear to you those unsharpened yellow #2s made my week.

Clutching my prize, I was so very proud. Sliding my forefinger under the smooth tan rubber band, I counted them and recounted them. I remember sitting in the back of my mother's car on the ride home from Eric's, bragging about how I was the very best dancer. 

I wonder if I told Mom that I lost at Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I felt such anxiety being blindfolded and turned around, left to navigate in darkness while other the children watched. I cried to Eric's father that Pin the Tail on the Donkey was unfair. I needed to win one of the games at Eric's party. I couldn't go home a loser. Was I really the best dancer at Eric's party? I'll never know. But thank you Eric's parents for making me a winner that day. 

Happy Birthday, Eric. I will always remember your first grade birthday bash on East Dover Street. 

17 comments:

  1. Wonderful post Ally. Reminded me of why I fell in love with this blog in the first place.

    I bet your dancing skills have only gotten better too.

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  2. You are the Dancing Queen! Guess what tune my brain is singing?

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  3. i love that the prize was a handful of regular old pencils. if only today's birthday parties could be so inexpensive.

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  4. I love this story, Ally.
    The one time I won at Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and my family was SO PROUD of me for beating out a slew of kids, I cheated. I couldn't help it. I could see under the blindfold. This is the first time I'm admitting it. Shh.
    Dancing, though, beats that stupid donkey game any day!
    xoRobyn

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  5. Thank you Betty, Ms.A and TS.

    @Lucky, I forgot to mention like my parents, Eric's folks were teachers :)

    @Robyn, I know this party game is impossible so don't fret!

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  6. congrats, must of been a proud moment

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  7. I'm happy for the child within. We all needed moments like this. I'll never forget winning a dance contest when I was 15 and we got a free pizza. It was a sweet moment.

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  8. Cool blog, pal! followed, MC-hammer style!!!

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  9. cool post following supporting.

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  10. I don't know why I felt I had to cheat at this game. The prize usually involved a piece of candy... I guess, to a child, that's worth it's weight in gold.

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  11. Ally -

    I think you should grab your video cam and give us an updated version of that dance! :)

    BTW - we had that exact same pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey set.

    Great blog post!

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  12. I remember attending birthday parties as a kid. They were so much fun. For some reason, it was obligatory back in the day to play musical chairs. It was so stressful to play musical chairs! :)

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  13. great blog! I added you picture to my blog page!

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  14. Hey, I think we might have been at the same party. You were the one who got the pencils...grrrr...

    Actually, you're way younger then me, but I remember something darn similar to this, although the prize was a bottle of Windsong perfume!

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  15. Only contest I ever won was a dance contest at a bar mitzvah party.. With a cute guy even! ( my last good social memory involving the opposite sex until 16 )... Won long distance voyager by the moody blues on vinyl...

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