By: Jennifer Richardson Holt
I could have sworn that the summer was supposed to be slow and peaceful. I mean aren’t their sayings talking about the “lazy days of summer” and things such as that? This summer is apparently unaware of these beloved sayings and for the next several months my schedule is packed tighter than canned sardines. If I am honest, I have no clue how tightly that is packed considering I have never opened nor even possessed a can of sardines however it is my understanding that they are very tightly packed, so I am hoping that the analogy serves. To put it plainly my husband and I have yet again fallen prey to wanting to do, or more accurately host, all the things.
In our defense, we do have two major birthdays in our little three-person family unit within days of each other which have to be celebrated with both friends and family. We won’t even get into the fact that Father’s Day is also thrown in there. When you have a child who is reaching the milestone of double digits one party certainly couldn’t be enough right? I probably shouldn’t say that knowing full well she gets two parties every year.
Please know that this occurs not because we spoil her rotten, although, well, that’s another story. But it is because she and her Daddy share a party for the family to celebrate both their birthdays as they are only four days apart. That way the family can come together and celebrate them both and then she gets her own separate party with her friends. See, she isn’t that spoiled. There is a logic behind it all.
In amongst the birthdays in the coming weeks though we’ve thrown in yet another gathering that will involve pool time and a generous number of varying creatures generously giving of themselves to be cooked via fire and smoke. As a matter of fact, I think that we should have the bulk of the farmyard covered as the residents of the stye, coop and pasture will be well represented on the menu. But fear not all you non-carnivores as the plethora of southern sides and desserts will be appearing in all their glory. For the most part, those are my responsibility save one casserole, that is my husband’s specialty. I most certainly don’t mind as I love cooking, especially things I feel pretty certain I know how to do well. However, there is the risk that I end up making entirely too much; but I embrace said risk by simply having to-go plates for any and everyone to fill and take with them.
So, this weekend I will be doing pressure washing to prep our outside areas for all the coming gatherings. While it is a chore that I enjoy as it is always enjoyable to see immediate results, it probably wouldn’t be my ideal way to spend a Saturday. There is also ahead the task of buying groceries, cleaning house, and making sure the dog hasn’t eaten any of the pool floats. By all reasonable standards this should probably convince us to scale things back a bit, or perhaps it simply proves our cheese has slid off its cracker.
But we keep doing it.
Not because we enjoy grocery lists and pressure washers quite that much, but because some of life’s best memories seem to happen when people linger together longer than they planned. The older I get, the more convinced I become that gathering people around a table is rarely a wasted effort.
We know that while our food is pretty good, or so we’re told, it’s the way people feel when we welcome them into our home that they most remember. We want them to feel as though they are just visiting family. I want them comfortable enough to explode with boisterous laughter or to wander back to the kitchen for second and third helpings. I want the day to make them hope we announce we’re doing another something similar and soon. My goal is for the warmth all our guests feel to not just to be the Alabama summer but something just as tangible only much deeper.
Are you tired yet? I won’t lie and say that this month isn’t going to be a bit daunting as that is a great deal of hosting in front of me. I am not intimidated by it in the sense that I don’t want people over and I don’t want to prepare good food and good times for them. I am all for that as it is very much my (and my husband’s) proverbial cup of tea. But this cup of tea that we have poured for ourselves for the month of June is rather formidable. It is less a cup and more a barrel. We are happy to take it on however; I just hope that the food is so delicious and the fun is so momentous that when our friends and family part after one of these occasions that they do so with memories that bring a smile weeks later. And if we have really done our job well, they’ll go with hearts as happy and as full as their bellies.
Prose and Possibilities 