Party Pooper

Each year in the fall we try to host a carmel apple making party. Abe makes fantastic carmel apples. It seemed the right time to host this year's party and we decided to invite some of our old carmel apple party regulars, who happen to be medical residents now, and to keep from mixing company too much and as a friendly gesture, decided to invite the other residents from my program and their wives/kids.

I emailed everyone with a request they RSVP so we knew how much food we would need. Then, I waited. and waited. and waited. I had one resident and his wife let me know they already had plans and would not be able to attend. As for the other 9 residents, I never heard anything.

A night before the party I started to panic no one would be there. I was frustrated that while I have many friends I could have invited and would loved to have seen there, I thought it would be a nice thing to do to invite the guys from work. By then, it a bit late to get many new invitees.

So, we had our party. I half expected someone to show up, unexpectedly, just forgetting to RSVP. But nope. We had two couples show up (not from my program) and had a lot of fun (thanks our back-up couple for coming-- you weren't back-up in our thoughts, we just were trying not to mix company too much ).

However, I just kept wondering..."What if this had been a big deal to me? What if my self esteem were riding on the attendance of this party? What if the two couples who had come had not come (and Abe's family weren't around), how bad would I feel?" I keep thinking back on movies I have seen with the girl who is in her party dress with decorations and cake, waiting and waiting when no guests come to her party. Needless to say, I was a bit frustrated by the lack of consideration. Maybe I broke some unwritten rule I don't know about...maybe we don't socialize outside of required work parties?

It seems like a fluke-y thing, except 2 years ago I made a similar attempt with some classmates in a group I was in for my whole third year. Out of the 11 of them, only one came (the foreign exchange student who had nothing else to do).

So I keep wondering, do people not like carmel apples? or is it another factor (like me)?