My sister, who, if you look at my pictures, is a taller, skinner version of myself (with the same bust, but not nearly the hips and bum I have), is single. As such, she holds legendary parties. Legendary! She's been trying to get me to go for ages, but as I am married, with two small children, it is difficult for me to find the time to go to a party that is likely to run well in the small hours of the morning, as hers often do.
We were living in Austin, Texas in the summer of 2006, and my sister was living in New Braunfels, which lies south of Austin along the I-35 about 45 minutes from us. My husband was on a duty assignment in Hawaii for three months, and I was a little lonely. So, when she invited me to one of her parties and offered to pay the babysitter for the whole night, I just had to agree.
I arrived at Beth's (my sister's) house about 6:00, and there were already a lot of people there. All were friends of my sister's in one fashion or another, and nearly all were enlisted military, most in their mid-twenties. Maybe 8 or 10 guys about and six women, including my sister and myself.
I was wearing a skirt and a light cotton blouse, and had spent a lot of time doing my makeup and my hair, as a lady is allowed to do when going out for the first time in a while. The first two hours or so were fairly uneventful, and I pretty much kept to myself as I didn't know anyone save my sister, making idle chitchat when it was called for. Dinner was good, the guys cooking up ribs on the barbeque. I guess it was about 8:00 or so (the sun had gone down) when someone pushed two of the tables together and the broke out the pokerchips and cards. Not sure what was going on, I was tentative when approaching the table, but was encouraged to join. Actually, I was told in no uncertain terms that I HAD to play.