Crossing Streams

Man, that was a fun party! One that met and exceeded both of our expectations. It was something of a milestone and turning point, too. It was our first large gathering at Panorama since moving in. We invited an intermingled group of assorted friends that had not all met before, and we got to fully experience how well the way we set up the house and patio allowed us to do this in the first place. 

I had high hopes going into the evening. We have both wrestled, intermittently, with the history of the house and a 'vibe' that seemed to take a while to diminish and evolve as we made it our own. We also spent a lot of time strategizing on how to furnish it and create an environment conducive to interaction, conversation, and engagement.

The Mid-century sofa and chairs I got from Care2, the wall of unique and historically significant artwork, and the coffee and end tables from my childhood provided an inviting area for our guests to sit and talk. The dining room table we brought from Matson worked perfectly as a serving place for wine and food. The outdoor lighting, patio table, heat lamp, firepit and sofa all got used with superb comfort. The one dozen stemless wine glasses we bought last week did their job well without a single break. (We have a history of issues with stemware).

I selected a specific background music set from my "60's Console" playlist, which comprises the vinyl records I've sought and bought to align with the theme of the classic Zenith unit manufactured within a year of my birth. As were the records. Not wanting to get up and change records every 17 minutes and not wanting to "shortcut" the nature of intent, I used a conversion turntable over a week or two to playback and convert the records to MP3 for continuous shuffled playback.

The guests included people I had never met before, all the way back to people I've known for 45 years. People I've known since high school, from my time at Apple, through Tommy's cub-scout troop, through Jennifer. Fifteen or sixteen people in all.

The impetus was to take a big bite (sip?) out of an overwhelming supply of wine. Through clubs, GOBM sales and experiments and tasting-infused impulse purchases, we ended up with more wine than we had the space to store. But that was an excuse, if not an opportunity. I just wanted to have a party. 

I had visions of the party scene from "Breakfast At Tiffany's" with drinks flowing, laughter echoing, and cha-cha rhythms setting a beat to an inebriated attendee dancing on a table until passing out to a cry of "…TIMBER….!". I even told Jess and others to "put your coats on the main bedroom bed" because that is what my parents did when they entertained.

The wine, the chatter, the laughter, the music (including the 1961 Henry Mancini soundtrack from that very film), the coats. It all happened. Even the weather was ideal - crisp but not too cold—all but the dancing and passing out. So, in essence, there's room for improvement.

Jess said, in Vegas, that I was "Crossing Streams" by starting to bring individual cliques into overlapping circles. It started earlier this year with a few concert outings, and it worked. It worked well. It struck me at the time that the legacy practice of isolating and segregating clusters of friendships was absurd. Just a learned behavior. Bringing them all together has proven to be a far more enriching experience.

As I walked about and engaged in various interactions, I watched and relished seeing all of these remarkable people come together. Jennifer and I would occasionally touch one another as we passed or exchange a glance or a few words before we continued to enjoy our guests enjoying meeting and exploring their perspectives and personalities.

As I said to Marc and Christy, I consciously refused to bring our TV when we moved. As I have often said to my kids and others, I don't want to spend my life watching other people live theirs. I want to live my own.

We most certainly did so last night. We're both already thinking about what we can pull off between Thanksgiving and Christmas.