Last Friday, these two buses pulled up in front of our house and disgorged 80 or so hungry swimmers and coaches. They were supposed to arrive at 5 pm, but plans changed and instead they came at 4:15. Fortunately, the caterer arrived early, too, so all we had to do was remove the covers from the food and stand back. We had a few nervous moments. According to the caterer's menu, we'd ordered enough food for 120, but the trays started to run low alarmingly fast. The seniors went first, and I'm not sure any of the chicken parmigiana was left for the juniors let alone the sophomores or freshman. But there was other food--lasagna and two other pasta dishes--so everyone got something (and we gave the freshmen first crack at the desserts). We even had a little pasta and salad left over.
The locusts--I mean swimmers--crammed into all the available space: chairs, sofas, stairs, floor--but they did all fit into the house. (Another big sigh of relief.) They seemed to have fun, were very polite, and left about 6 pm. Then husband and I cleaned up and collapsed around 8:30.
Saturday we drove up to Baltimore to watch the swim meet and hand off some of the leftover waters and Gatorades for the swimmers to have on deck. Third son and his fiancee showed up to watch for a while, and we gave them the leftover brownies and cookies. After the meet, swimmer boy went off to the next hosting house--this one in New Jersey--and we went off to check into our hotel before meeting third son, fiancee, and second son (who'd just gotten back to Baltimore from New Orleans after a week of pro bono work) for dinner.
Now we're back home. I admire people who can entertain with grace and poise. I don't know if it's a skill I didn't master in my youth or a talent that doesn't mesh well with my basically introverted personality, but...Let's just say hubby and I are very glad we did it, but also very glad it's over. Now I have to get back to my "real" world and get to work on the next book.
But first I think I'll just sit here and stare out the window for a while.
