In My Mind’s Eye

You know how every once in a while, you run smackdab into some reality or other than you had never before considered?  Like this getting old thing.  I am in full acceptance of the fact that my mind and body are showing the ravages of time, but it is always amazing to me that my long-time friends are in the same situation.

Take parties, for instance. Traditionally in this house we have a big party once every year or so – usually Christmas.  My folks did.  We do.  By big I mean a hundred or so guests.  We move most of the furniture out to make room for the people.  I think of those parties as “California style” – everyone stands and mingles and moves (read sidles) from the food table in one room to the bar in another room and from group to group of people.  We stand.  We wander.  We talk and laugh and never think about the time.  I love those big parties.

A Friday Night Gathering

When I moved to the Northwest forty years ago, I found that most parties here were different.  They were smaller in terms of people, perhaps more elaborate in terms of food, and people sat (sometimes in a big circle) and visited.  The parties were cozy and welcoming and different from what I was used to.  And I love those sorts of parties, too. In some ways, I hope, we have incorporated that feeling into our Friday Night Gatherings.

But back to those California style parties.  The last one we had was Christmas 2016 and it was the first time I was aware that people needed to sit down.  Yes.  Needed.  Our friends were no longer whippersnappers of thirty or forty springtimes.  They were seventy or eighty with old legs, old backs, and maybe a few pounds (ahem) heavier than they were back in the day.  Some bravely sat on the carpet in front of the fire and, though I didn’t see the getting-up process, they must have managed because they weren’t still here in the morning.

A Stand-Up Group

There are some things that don’t quite compute.  Like the aging of our friends.  And our children!!!  (Now that’s another gobsmacker!  Say WHAT?  Hearing aids now in the younger generation?)  But, really, I’m just as happy having at least one time a year when we are again all in our prime, even if its only in my mind.  The reality check is the next day.  Will I remember where we stashed the chairs?  Or why?