Summer Camp and Slumber Parties...for Grownups!
Sitting on the edge of a dock, with my feet in the chilly Chesapeake Bay, I was called inside to eat lunch. It was especially delicious: chicken salad and shrimp salad, on potato bread rolls, with tomatoes and peppery arugula from the garden. Lunch was followed by a long walk by the water with the family dog. What else was on the agenda for the day? Well, a nap of course, followed by gazing at the sunset and a leisurely dinner telling very, very old stories with long-standing friends.
We giggled in the story telling. Some were new stories to me (the guys had been friends since preschool, my husband had introduced his buddy to his wonderful wife decades ago, I’m a relative newcomer to the scene at almost 9 years in). Some stories were tried and true and silly. We also shared some of the hard stories, of love and illness, of death and loss, inevitable stories to tell since we aren’t young anymore. We talked about mistakes and triumphs, went to bed late, then woke up the next day to make homemade scones. The wife invited me to go to Zumba with her. Turns out I’m still a terrible dancer. I had a good time anyway.
In the days before that we had similar experiences with a friend in DC, although dinner was fancier and we walked through the lobby of a famous hotel instead of walking the family dog. Then we stayed with friends out in the area beyond DC that houses all of the Big Data centers. They are a creepy sign of our times…huge campuses, storing our personal information, selling it for ad dollars, in buildings protected from electronic pulses so they have no windows and lots of security. You forget about them once you’re in the neighborhood, watching kids swim in the freezing pool on opening day, and taking another walk, this time with 2 family dogs. On the last day of our trip, we stayed with a friend and his cat in Baltimore, and walked through the remarkable Fort McHenry on Memorial Day, which left us feeling patriotic and fascinated by cannons and history.
4 friend’s houses in 5 days, each visit special and cherished. Each visit fun. You know, fun, of the on-purpose relaxed, spontaneous, yummy kind? Many adults seem to have forgotten how to have fun. When we were kids we often had activities set up for fun-on-purpose. Sleepovers at friend’s houses, staying up late, eating yummy food, telling stories. Long lazy days at the beach. Summer camp where we roasted marshmallows and rode horses and put on ridiculous plays. Whether you hated summer camp or loved it, whether you were a sleepover house or a no sleepover house, the point here is to bring back some of the concept of fun-on-purpose-with-friends into your summer.
Maybe it’s a barbeque with neighbors, maybe it’s just you with a good book on your porch. It can be loud fun or quiet fun, but I recommend outside time and good food and nice company if you can figure it out. Let me know what feels fun to you this summer.
