The Social Whirl!

What a weekend. I have no pictures to share, but just had to write about this.

We are usually boring homebodies - just ask our son - so this was a very unusually social 3 days.

First, the usual Friday dinner was even more lively than usual. Our son brought a friend, Molly, home with him this weekend and for a change, I prepared a meal that even Rob could eat. We all sat down to a large pan of stuffed shells with meatballs on the side and laughed and kidded through the entire meal. Lots of reminiscences, some a bit shocking but all funny. As Rob gets older, there is less and less censoring, so the kids got a pretty vivid picture of who we were way back when. I think they were entertained and Rob didn't seem to be "too" embarrassed by his crazy family.

Saturday, it was the Sizzlers' meeting. It seemed that life had gotten in the way of most of the "regulars", so the core group was Rachel and me. Luckily, we were joined by Lesliediana from Arlington (yep, Virginia) and two Traci's who we met at the Lebanon show.

I really don't think I have had so much fun with a group of women in ages and that's saying something because most of the Sizzlers meetings are a blast. We snacked and bonded and just laughed uncontrollably most of the afternoon. Then my darling husband, Bob, grilled some burgers and we sat down to eat even more. Someone asked when the stripper was coming, just as Rob and Molly returned from their travels. Rob walked into the room and one of the Traci's said, "You must be the stripper!" You have to know our reserved son to imagine the expression on his face! Molly was quietly amused.

It was one of those wonderful things that happens when a group of relative strangers just clicks. At first, I was worried because many that we were expecting weren't able to come. I wish everyone could have been there to enjoy an uproarious day. We even discussed beads and jewelry!

So, I thought I could take a deep breath on Sunday and recover. Tina and I went early to pick up some stain for her wicker kitchen set and worked a bit on that. Sometime in the middle of all this, Rob and Molly headed back to school. Then, I had promised to mow the yard and I came home and zipped around taking care of that. A quick shower and off to our next gathering.

I had almost forgotten that we were invited to an "impromptu surprise wedding reception" for some friends in the afternoon. Our friend, Brian, often invites a group for dinners. It's always fun, but this time, he had a purpose. He is the head steward on a cable ship and was out at sea when Kelly and Scott were married this summer. When he called to invite us, he told me they had served cupcakes at their wedding and didn't have a proper cake, so no top layer to freeze and eat next year on their first anniversary. He planned to correct that!.

We all brought cards and some small gifts - in our case a box of assorted soaps. It was nice and again it was a group of casual friends who got along great.

After dinner was finished, we prepared for Brian's usual fabulous dessert. He entered with a two tier wedding cake. Kelly and Scott were overwhelmed, but did the traditional cutting of the cake and attempted to smear cake and icing on each others' faces... They are an adorable couple and its clear they know how to play together.

Anyhow, that was my weekend. It was so nice to enjoy family, new and old friends getting along and having fun together. I feel like I packed a good portion of my annual socializing into one three day period - now, sigh, back to work.