Friends - part 1

We attended another neighborhood party last night. It was the 7th almost annual Olympic Party, held at a friend's house down the street. There were so many people there that we knew -- and got to meet a handful of others. This party was started close to a summer olympic year, and has the wackiest challenges ever. Of course, they are really challenging when you have been drinking all evening. Teams were choosen ahead of time, and all couples were split between the two teams. This makes for a competitive environment. Of course, cheating is not encouraged, but is thought to occur regularly (cheating with the games, not with your neighbors ;-).

The first event was a "get to know your neighbor" event. You had to stand next to two people of the opposite sex and have your hands tied together (strips of cloth were used for this). When everyone was tied up and the game began, you had to thread an illuminated (that would electrified) string of lights in your left sleeve of your shirt, across your chest, and out the right sleeve. On to the next person. Once it hit the end of the line, you had to go the opposite direction, and thread it through the sleeves and over your back. The first team to run out of lights won. Definately an ice breaker!

When all was said and done, I wondered home just before 3:30. Good thing most of our neighbors were at the party and drinking as much as we were!

The hosts of the party are moving to Pennsylvania in the next few weeks. They are very good friends of ours - and have been for the seven + years we've been in Virginia. They are probably the closest couple to us from a relationship / reality / work ethic perspective. While we have two other couples that we are really good friends with (and actually spend more time with), these guys are level headed and really consistent with what can be expected. They actually understand when work gets in the way of kids demands, or when paying the bills is not even a question of priority.

Last year, Bill (the hubby here) had a real scare with cancer. It didn't overwhelm their lives, it was just part of it. I must say that with that, I realized what a great person he is at acceptance of things he cannot change. However, they also realized that they were not to finish life but continue it and change the things they could. Over the past 2 years, Bill has lost 45 lbs., runs several days a week, all while driving 60,000+ miles every year. It's just what is needed to keep things in motion. I respect that, and will miss the weekend (since he's gone most weekdays) friendship that we've shared over the past 7 years.

Thanks for another great (but final) Olympic party friends.