Picnic

The last Friday of summer that the campus closes early. For the last few years, we have been celebrating this last hurrah by gathering together at our Operation Manager's house and having a picnic. Next Friday we will work the full 9 to 5. But today we leave off at 3:30 and head out for our picnic. It's a great time for us to relax, chat, catch up, chew the fat and just plain old be together. Nobody fusses about making sure everything is perfect (except maybe our hostess) - we all just bring a dish, plunk ourselves down in a comfy place and watch the smoke rise from the BBQ pit where the chicken is being hickory infused.

We nibble snacky stuff while we gather, sipping iced tea and cool water, and razz each other about one thing or another. It's like stepping onto the set of Happy Days and just hanging out in the seclusion of a quiet backyard where the dog chases a ball and the butterflies flutter and the birds sing. We lounge about on pine benches and Adirondack chairs and wicker rockers and folding lawn chairs, grouping and regrouping, fading in and out of various conversations and sometimes just being quiet and drinking it all in.

When the chicken is ready, we pile baked beans and macaroni salad and leafy greens onto paper plates and dig in, relishing every outdoorsy bite. The mosquitoes stay away, the bees don't bother us, and the sun slowly sinks, painting the air a dusky dull. We linger on, loathe to tear ourselves from so gentle and peace filled a place. It is good for family to be together. Drew loves coming every year, finding good conversation with interesting people a bonus. This year he compares notes about college with someone who just completed his first year. He learns some helpful tricks.

At last, the weary world beckons us from our tranquility and we climb into the car and make our way home. Drew sighs with contentment and I rest my head, tired but happy. OK, so I have adjusted to letting Drew be the chauffeur and I don't panic quite so much. Though not a big to-do at a park somewhere, it makes up for having to miss other picnics I would have like to have gone to. Maybe next year Drew and I will make it to Hamlin Beach for our own day out. But for now I am happy to have picnicked with friends in the back yard.