I’m not really a football fan, much less a Super Bowl fan, although I do like seeing the big, showy commercials. I will confess, though, that I did watch last year simply because the Patriots seemed just a wee bit arrogant & I was hoping they’d lose. Naturally it helped that a NY team was playing against them.
Then there was the one a few years back that I watched the start of. Frank was upstairs doing something & I saw this guy grab the ball and run all the way down the field for a touchdown. I yelled up to Frank, “Honey, how unusual is it for a guy to make it all the way from one end to the other without getting tackled?” I’m not sure we had Tivo at the time so lucky thing for reruns.
Anyhow, the point isn’t about football. It’s about parties. I’ve never gone to a Super Bowl party and I’ve never had one. Not a real one with huge amounts of food and enormous amounts of people. But I’ve been thinking about an impromptu party I did have.
It was back in 2002. We were home doing nothing. The game was going to be on in a few hours. I had enough stuff in the house that I could whip together some food appropriate for a little party. I decided to call my parents and tell them to come over. I knew they’d be home and that they’d be free. They usually were.
I have no idea what teams were playing. I have no clue who won. I do remember we had a fun time. I had just bought some new living room furniture and that was the first time my mom got to see it. Overall, it was just a fun evening.
As it turned out, it was the best move I ever made, throwing that spur of the moment Super Bowl party. About a week or 2 later, my mom died and that was the last time I saw her. Ever since then, I’ve been a big fan of spontaneous parties.
I don’t mean this to be a sad post, about my mom’s death. I mean it to be a good one; one that says our last time together was fun. A post that says, go do stuff, have fun, to hell with the fact that maybe your house isn’t 100% perfect and you only have 3 types of snacks instead of 7. No one will care. It’s the company that counts. So go invite someone over or make plans or something. Just go spend time with the people you care about.
Kind of a sad post but at the same time not sad. Something made you invite them over that day and it was a great thing that you did. It gave you happy memories to hang on to instead of just the sad ones.
Okay, Monk…now THIS IS MY NEW MOST FAVORITE POST EVER of yours. What you said is the truest things ever; the state of your house doesn’t matter, the snacks don’t matter (although, YOUR snacks? Now, c’mon…I just know quality AND quantity are always there. You’re Italian. Mangia!), it’s the being with the people you love. Or even just like…that’s very good, too!
When my Grandma went to live in the nursing home, everything was fine except her legs, I just did not know how it was going to be, visiting her there. One visit was all it took to know it didn’t make any difference where it was, as long as I got to be with her.
I am SO GLAD you got that time with your Mom.