Entering “Memories of Megler”
Since we first moved ‘into town’ nearly twenty years ago, it has been our custom to host our friends and neighbors here at an informal, no-name gathering. We just refer to it as “Friday Night.” There are no explicit invitations – only the opposite – which is a quick heads-up email to ‘regulars’ that we’ll be doing something else on the up-coming Friday.
Last night, for instance, we went to the opening reception for the Heritage Museum’s “Memories of Megler” exhibition. In a way, it was like a “Friday Night” away from home. We saw many of ‘the usual suspects’ and many more of the ‘irregulars’; the food and beverages were fabulous; and conversation (mostly centered on memories of the days before the bridge) flowed seamlessly throughout the evening.
In fact, when I opened my morning’s email and read a friendly message from a far-away friend, I had to pause a bit to realize that she was referring to her imaginary thoughts of a ‘usual’ Friday Night:
Friday Night at CPHM
Knowing that people will be gathering in your and Nyel’s home I have been thinking often about being a fly on the wall, listening to the conversation. Not hoping for solutions, just hearing Trump being trounced! I’ve been more and more aghast as I listen to comments he has made. This situation is verging on scary, scary. Soooooo, when you have time over the next day or so, please send me a few bits of the conversation(s) this evening. I can visualize several conversations happening concurrently; everyone being “jazzed” and riled up.
Actually, even if we’d been at home as usual, I doubt very much if the conversation would have been very concurrent, jazzed up, or riled. It is seldom that we discuss politics or anything else controversial, for that matter. (As a matter of fact, I really don’t know the political affiliations or thoughts of many of our Friday Nighters.)
A Friday Night in 2012
Perhaps it’s because we gather in the library that was once my grandparents’ and are surrounded by the books and artwork of a bygone era – a more formal and courteous time when certain subjects were not mentioned in polite conversation. In fact, I think of Friday Nights as islands of calm – a time to laugh and reflect and enjoy a few hours of good fellowship with people I like. A time away from the stress of daily life and the all-too-proximate woes of the twenty-first century. Just like last night which just happened to be a Friday Night away from home!
I don’t know about your Friday Night group, but I am weary of anything in the way of political conversation. Even some of my most contentious Facebook friends are abstaining from snarky remarks. Well, nearly all, anyway. I just scroll on by and don’t take the bait. I think an evening at the Museum was brilliant.