The Spectrum Friends Holiday Party

Posted on February 14, 2025

Hello and welcome to the year 2025. I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year. For the month of February, I wanted to talk about my group’s holiday party that happened on December 28, 2024. Before I start getting into my blog I would like to say a few things. I know that I have talked about my group a few times, but I don’t really see them very often. This occasion felt very sentimental to me because it feels like it’s been months since I have last seen them. The last time we all got together was back in June. I see my autism group as like another family. I know I have said that a few times but it’s how I feel about them. Now I am going to go back to the subject.

A few days before New Years, my group hosted a holiday get-together at Duke’s Bar and Grille in Wormleysburg, Pa. There were 22 people in our group that showed up and there were some that couldn’t make it. The Autism Society was paying for the food and drinks. If you wanted to buy alcohol you would have to pay for that yourself. I had myself a pina colada sangria which I paid for myself. I was the only one drinking alcohol out of the whole group. When I first got there, I started handing out Christmas cards and guess what? They loved them and that made my evening. I have never given out Christmas cards before and so I thought that maybe I should start doing that. I loved doing that for the first time in my life and besides, I didn’t have much to give anyway. Everyone around me was socializing, including me which is somewhat different because usually I don’t have much to talk about. People were talking about things from their jobs and what they do for a living. As I am listening to their conversations, I am learning a little bit more about them than I have before. I have known them for about 2 years now. Just talking to them alone felt good because every one of us has our own lives and we don’t always stay in touch. When we do stay in touch it’s either on social media or email. During our meal, our group leader had announced that he was retiring as head of the group by the end of 2025. He has been with the group for about 20 years and has led it for about 7 years. He felt that it was time to find someone younger who could lead the group and come up with better ideas. I don’t know how I feel about the retirement news other than I was shocked because we are like family, and I don’t deal with change that well. He would be like president emeritus of the group just overlooking how things are going but not leading. He might take part in some events depending on his health though.

We had a nice dinner together but before our meals came, some of us had ordered appetizers. I had an order of mozzarella bread sticks and so did my friend. She said I had inspired her to order some herself because they looked really good. I had never eaten at Duke’s before and wanted to try them. When she couldn’t finish her appetizer, she gave them to me to take home. I ended up eating them the next morning for an early breakfast. For my dinner, I ordered a cheeseburger with sweet potato fries. I shared some of my fries because some like sweet potato fries and also because I wanted to make room for dessert. Some decided to take their leftovers and dessert home, but I opted not to because I didn’t want to bring too much home with me to avoid carrying a lot. For dessert, they had apple pie in a mug so that’s what I had and that was the last thing I ate that night.

Right at the end of the event, we decided to take group pictures. One of the members had sent me some of the pictures through email which I keep for memory. I am about to bring up something I find embarrassing so here I go. Just as we were taking group pictures, I started feeling sick to my stomach, which I found weird because that hasn’t happened in a while. I had a hard time facing the camera and I was rushing to the bathroom. One of my friends was worried about me and one of them had to check on me in the bathroom to see if I was okay. Later, I woke up the middle of the night to use the bathroom and went right back to bed. It was right around that same time that my friend reached out to me through messenger to see if I was okay. When I got really sick earlier it kind of scared her and also pretty much myself. I told her I felt a little better by nighttime and that I am okay now. I thanked her for being a good friend and reaching out. That means a lot to me and that was very sweet. She thinks what made me sick was the alcohol. I agreed with that but also think part of it was the fact that I overindulged when I shouldn’t have. That wasn’t very smart of me at all.

I am going to conclude my blog post by saying not everyone has good friends like that who are sweet, but I am fortunate that I do. In the past, making friends was always difficult, especially when it comes to making the right friends. I know I have mentioned that before but I’m saying it again. I am grateful that I found a group I can connect with and care about me. They are very sweet people, and I see them as family to me and despite that one mishap I had a good time. I just wish that I hadn’t gotten sick that time because that kind of sucked the joy out of a nice afternoon. Not only that but it was rather embarrassing. Anyway, thank you for letting me tell my story about my group’s party and enjoy the month of February.