Party time 200218

      We had a lot of good parties when I was in the navy and in Millington. One time we played "The Newly Wed Game" at a party.

      The game was very popular on TV at the time. There were some good laughs on the show. The concept was to take the couples and separate the women from the men and then ask the men questions about what their wife would say on a particular subject and then bring the wives back in to see if their answers were the same. Points were given if the men got the answer correct. Next the wives were asked questions about what the men would say about a subject and then points were awarded if the men got the right answer. Playing the game at a party was surprisingly more fun that the TV show was. The couple that had the most points won the game.

      We had a lot of other parties in Millington and some went from a noon-time lunch at a local park then back to our house and the party ran into the wee hours of the morning or even past sunup. The parties were fun because all of us were navy families and all were in the same boat with same incomes same types of stories and same problems. It was a very compatible group of people. No one tried to outshine another; that would have been a futile gesture because we all knew each other well.

      We sailors enjoyed retelling our different sea stories, usually prefaced by the admonition, "this is no shit" meaning this is exactly how it happened. All of us sailors enjoyed sharing those stories; while the wives looked on with disdain or incredibility or why have I never heard this before or not this story again. The wives got an earful, but they never left the room.