Angel on my shoulder

Last night's cast party was everything I'd hoped it would be.  With several unforeseeable bonuses.

Because John is kind enough to stand in for me taking an older friend out to Saturday night dinner ~and~ we currently only have the one car, our stout-hearted & true Concorde, he dropped me off at the cast party house just before 6:00 p.m.  A long 4+ hours before the cast party.  The time flew!

The Mom of the House was in the cast, so she wasn't there.  Ditto the oldest daughter, who also had a dance recital that very afternoon, so her dad was ferrying her between that event & the play, which she also was in.  That left the three youngest - pre-schooler, rising 2nd grader & 7th grader - at home, with me.  The oldest was in charge of his younger sisters, but it turned out that the youngest hung out with me.  It was bliss!  '

It started when she came into the house, dejected over something that had happened on the swing set, where the older had pulled age rank.  I knew all about that.  I sat next to the little one.  "I am the youngest in my family, too.  My brothers are 10 & 14 years older than I am, my sister is 8 years older."  For the rest of the time I was there, a sidekick helped me out, scooping out seeds from peppers, helping get stuff out of the way by putting whatever we could in a big bag, tidying up as we went along.  Nirvana!

But the best was yet to come.  After my young earth angel was off to bed, her 12-year old brother came into the large kitchen.  He such fun to talk with, with lots of interesting things to share.  I'd forgotten to bring a book to keep from getting bored - here I was, anything but!

Best of all, the party was being held downstairs, in the den which lead out to a large backyard.  I love putting on cast parties in this house, but hadn't seen that twist coming - my leg problems make going up & down stairs a challenge.  And I had a lot of food, a lot of heavy food.  

But I've gotten organized.  All the food was laid out on the immense granite island in understandable order.  Turns out the lad loves all things cooking & was eager to help. He - then his dad, when he got home - trucked all the dishes downstairs.  Best of all, the young man had it all attractively laid out, the chips & dips on this table, the salads & deviled eggs on that, beverages over there, wine over here, the entrees on the flipped surface poker table.  

The only time I had to go downstairs was to join the party, which I am proud to say I was organized enough to be able to do!

Over & over, that young lad reminded my of my brother, Ian.  Ian was four years older than me & the - I was delighted to discover in my mid-50s - the only sibling who was anything like me.  And who died at eleven.  He & my young friend were similar in quite a few ways.  Ian loved to cook, loved people, loved to help.  

From the moment I agreed to do last night's cast party, it was on track to be a fun experience for me as well as for the people who came.  And it was, from first to last.  Just didn't realize that one very important reason it would turn out that way would be because there was an angel on my shoulder.  

Thanks, Ian - the help made all the difference between being exhausted & in pain and having a blast.  Glad you recruited such a fine fellow, someone just enough older than you when we last saw each other to not seriously freak me out with the serendipity.  So blessed to have you as my first guardian angel.  Tell Cheryl & Geneva & Hedy that I say "Hi!"