*Beautiful Downtown Oysterville, of course!

Gordon Schoewe – A Friday Night in 2014

It’s gotten so I don’t really know what “normal” is anymore — not when it comes to social endeavors, anyway.  Last night was the second (or was it the third?) time since the Pandemic began that we have reinstituted our Friday Night Gatherings — a tradition that Nyel and I began shortly after officially moving into the family house here in Oysterville in 2001.  We saw it as an opportune setting for our friends to get together more-or-less regularly for a little “guzz’n’gossip” as we used to call it in my salad days.  We would supply the drinks; our guests would bring appetizers.  Or, in Gordon’s case — usually a box of chocolates.  Five to seven o’clock every Friday.

Sometimes there were only four or five of us.  Sometimes more than a dozen.  There was seldom a specific “topic” up for discussion ‘nor was there ever anything off-limits.  Mostly we shied away from politics — not out of mutual respect, necessarily, but because we were sick of the news in general.  (And, over the years, we got sicker of it…)  Early on, some of us avid readers formed a “Mystery Book Club” which met less frequently and in round-robin fashion at one another’s homes, part of the group even traveling to England and to Canada on book-related journeys over the years.

The core group of Friday Nighters has changed as time has gone by.  Some of our “originals” (Roy, Gordon, Kay, Charlie, Kaye, Carol N.) are probably meeting in the Great Beyond.  Some have moved out of the area but join us when they can and, happily, we have added many new friends  along the way.  The format has always been eat, drink, talk, laugh, repeat.  Once in a while we get serious about something — though there’s usually someone in the crowd to nip that in the bud.

Kay Buesing One Friday Night in 2009

Too, in recent years, Tucker has begun bringing an item each week as “show and tell” — a feature that has become so popular that last night Sturges suggested Tucker think about inviting the whole crowd over to his Boat House to see his collection up close and personal.  Fortunately (thought this rather mean-spirited hostess who was feeling threat of being usurped) the idea didn’t seem to get a lot of traction.  At least not last night.   Truth to tell, I feel a bit protective about the setting and format of our Friday Nights.  Perhaps, though, Tucker will choose a different night of the week as Game Night for those who would like to visit his arcade and have not yet done so.

And speaking of Sturges — last night he brought his fiancé, Laurie, to meet us all.  Brave woman!  We passed around the bubbly and Nyel made a toast — another Friday Night first!  I couldn’t help thinking of all the fabulous folks who have joined our Friday Night Gatherings over the years — some as permanent fixtures, some just passing through.  How blessed we are with such wonderful friends!  I do hope that this “nearly normal” renewal will continue without interruption for the foreseeable future.