Our First House Party!

We've always liked hosting guests at our house. Years ago, we had weekly get-togethers (referred to simply as "Friday nights") with our theatre friends at one or another couple's house, and we were happy to have ours included in the rotation. Those nights started as cast parties for various plays but soon became weekly staples in our social lives, whether or not a play was going on. In more recent years, we were in the rotation of host sites for "game nights" when several couples friends with children would converge at someone's house, where all the kids would play together while all the adults would enjoy adult beverages and adult games together. Those get-togethers included more elaborate outings, too, such as the cooking game Stir Crazy, our own Amazing Race, and a Christmas luau.

Fast-forward several months to a new house in a new city in a different state. Three people who work in my unit (at the university) are leaving--two to different units on campus and one to a different state for her husband's job. Susan and I hosted my coworkers at our house for a "thank you, farewell, and good luck" party for those folks. We had 32 people (15 of them under the age of 10) here for supper--and, God bless this home, we had plenty of room for everyone. It helped that the weather cooperated. The kids played in the back yard, in the front yard, on the driveway, in the garage, in the neighbors' yards with the neighbor kids--they kept themselves occupied. The adults gathered around the island in the kitchen (where all Midwestern get-togethers tend to wind up, anyway) and in the living room and out on the veranda.

It was a potluck, so everybody brought something. I tried to smoke everybody off the place by grilling hot dogs and hamburgers--patties with such high fat content that the flames were leaping like nobody's business (but, oh, how moist they were!), and the smoke was a-billowin'. We bought about 15 12-packs of about a dozen kinds of pop and filled a 90-can-capacity cooler out on the veranda. We also supplied hamburger fixin's, potato chips, and disposable plates, cups, flatware, and napkins. Items that others brought included crockpots of Mexican beans and rice, Midwestern baked beans and hamburger, and spicy meatballs in a cream sauce; macaroni salad, watermelon, herb bread and cheese dip, pudding salad, and pizza casserole; and, for dessert, pistachio salad, pineapple upside-down cake, and vanilla bean ice cream. There was so much food left over that everybody in our unit is planning to spend our lunch hour tomorrow walking to the Moberg house (for exercise), eating leftovers, and then walking back to campus!

We have had our neighbors over "of an evening" for beverages and dessert on the veranda, and a university colleague and her husband and their daughter have been here a couple times for supper. We also have a few more couples who will bring their kids over and join us for supper in the next few weeks, once we coordinate our schedules. We've also had family over for supper on several holidays and other occasions. However, this was our first time hosting a large group of people in our new home, and we were happy to have the room to do it. Thank you, New House!

"Reunited and It Feels So Good . . ."

We had a great day in Bemidji, Minnesota today! [Well, it's Saturday now by the time I'm typing this, but we spent Friday in Bemidji. I always type too late into the wee hours of the morning and get my "todays" out of whack.] We arrived at 11:00 A.M. and had lunch at Subway with our friends Susan and Tim and their son John, all from Houston, Texas. Susan has been directing a play for the Paul Bunyan Playhouse the last week and a half, so that's why they're in Bemidji now. Susan's mom is visiting them, too, and she has a room at Ruttger's Birchmont Lodge on Lake Bemidji. Thus, after eating, we all went to Ruttger's to sit on the beach. John (age 9) and our girls (ages 4 to 7) had a BLAST kayaking, swimming, canoeing, playing in the sand, playing with other kids, playing with the friendly dogs of the people beside us on the beach (including a Lassie look-alike [named Mollie] whom we kept asking whether Timmy had fallen in the well!), etc. Susan and Tim and Susan (my wife) and I got to spend the entire afternoon visiting and catching up and reminiscing. The weather was perfect for being outdoors, and the kids played so well and had so much fun, and it was such a picturesque and relaxing locale for a reunion with friends that I can't think of a better way to have spent the afternoon.

At 5:00 P.M. we went to see our friends Steve and DeeJay at the farmhouse they're renting just west of Bemidji. It's a lovely little spread with horses and pygmy goats in the pasture and cats and kittens in the barn and lots of beautiful flowers planted all around the yard. Best of all (from my perspective, at least): Steve and DeeJay take care of the mowing and the gardening but not feeding and dealing with the animals (the "animal husbandry," I called it); the farm owners/landlords do that. Our friend Jackie from Grundy, Virginia is spending the weekend with Steve and DeeJay, so we got to see her, too. The girls enjoyed the animals as well as the above-ground pool out in the yard! While they swam, we adults enjoyed beverages and appetizers in the serene setting: lots of very green grass and trees all around; flames crackling in the fire pit; a steady, cool breeze; country silence; and a sense of peace in that place. Indoors, we ate a good supper, and the girls played with the kids' toys in the basement play room, then watched movies. We adults played a game called "Imaginiff" and caught up on recent events and old times and wondered why we don't do this more often.

The girls were thoroughly pooped from the active day spent outdoors, and frankly, so was I. The nearly two-hour drive back home at 10:45 P.M. just about did me in, especially since everybody else in the vehicle was asleep pretty much the minute I backed out of Steve and DeeJay's driveway, making the van feel very sleepy inside! We're safely home now, though. I'm grateful for dear friends with whom we can just pick up right where we left off the last time we saw them, even if we go years between meetings.