We started planning for this months ago, of course. IWOM put the venue negotiations and menu in motion; Dad slowly filtered names for this invite list to me. I sent a "Save the Date" email consisting mainly of one of his baby photos. Later, Dad and I selected and ordered the invitations online (note to self: October is rush season for card-printing due to the holidays) and then he went out of town, leaving his near-career-long admin and me to address the invites and send them out. Thankfully, they turned out great - another victory for the internet! 
Once he returned from his trip, we went to design the cake, and I was struggling to think of something appropriate. Something from Dad's professional career, like a microbe or infectious agent? Or maybe something travel-related, like the glass pyramid at the Louvre? I finally hit on it as he told me about his most recent blue-and-white purchase, a Ming plate in the shape of a lotus. We showed the cake folks what we wanted, and they said they'd give it their best shot. Dad went into their storefront wanting passion fruit flavor, and thankfully it was one of their options. Done! Meanwhile, I had a dress and matching necklace made in Shanghai. The dress was based on a design by Valentino from the Neiman-Marcus website and the necklace was made of weird pearls that looked like teeth. I felt like an extra from "Conan the Barbarian" wearing them.
The actual party was a tremendous success, which I judge mainly by the sheer bliss exuded by Dad. He's not someone to get emotional, but he was clearly happy to be surrounded by friends, and they were happy to get a chance to celebrate their experiences with him. Toasts were funny, heartfelt, and exemplified the diversity of his experiences. One of his oldest friends, S, had a typed copy of a letter that Dad wrote to him in 1960 after a trip to Europe with comments that had the audience howling. His sisters were generous and sweet, and I learned that I'm not the first relative he's subjected to his opinions on opera (apparently he lectured Auntie P. on a number of musical topics before he left for college). The reception started at 6:30, and the last guests wandered out around 10:30, whereupon the aunties and cousins and our family migrated to the lobby for drinks. Dad disappointed by not falling asleep at that point (an historical tendency of his), and we finally went to bed around 1am.And the cake was totally awesome. Beautiful AND tasty!
J managed to tough it out for most of the night, and came down for a final bow in jammies before going to sleep. She was a high point of the evening.
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