Entertaining

Last night, I had a party. It was a lovely party, with people, food, wine, games. We laughed and talked and took pictures and played Killer Bunnies (I have very cutthroat friends) and Catchphrase.

I've been meaning to have a party since I moved back to Spokane in May, but then got caught up in the things of life, things like working and sleeping and such. But there is more to life than all this. A couple of weeks ago, in Living the Christian Year, it was hospitality week. It was the little shove that I needed to get on my computer the next day and create my Evite.

For my first post-grad party, I wanted to do something easy, something that wouldn't set me up for failure if I was the only one to show up. I have this terrible fear of having a party where no one comes. But that has never happened.

This time, I chose people who didn't know each other (for the most part) and watched them make the connections that happen when you live in a smallish city with a smallish Christian community. The community got smaller last night,more closely-knit.

I am reminded of this every time I  entertain: I really like my  friends. New  ones and old ones came over tonight, and  I think  that they enjoyed each other as  well. There is something in that.  Something that goes beyond the mere  physical trappings of what  you are doing  to the essence of sharing time and  personality,  sharing ourselves. Lovely.

I've already started planning my next  party. If nothing else, I'm  sure that it will  be entertaining.