fogparty: a night to remember...

the midwest has a tradition of celebrating high school graduations with open houses... so this time of year we spend a lot of our time hopping from yard to yard. if you get an "open house invitation", there's this unwritten expectation that you should pony up with a gift... usually money. in turn... you get to stuff your cheeks with food at the grad's home... attempting to at least re-coop a bit of the gift's expense by feeding your family.

it's a no win situation.

in my day... "food" at open houses simply meant "cake made by marjorie fiock & hawaiian punch mixed with seven-up."

today... it means a light meal... followed by the eternal hope of discovering the graduation cake that actually tastes as good as mrs. fiock's. after 6 attempts this year so far... i've only added yet another notch to my trusty cake fork... as well as to my belt.

we rented a tent, tables, chairs... decked the place out... enslaved some of our best friends to chop endless amounts of veggies and fruit, cook egg rolls & meatballs... brought in the roly-polys... and rigged up a slushy machine.

there's no way we could have done it without some very kind and wonderful people... not to mention our own kids who were forced into slave labor for the last few weeks.

a neighbor offered his small group (from another church) to come over and finish staining our deck. a huge help. a friend from ww came over to clean the house... then noticed the bags of mulch by the driveway. the next thing i knew, tom & don were spreading wood chips and making our flower beds look fresh. then there were the people who went grocery shopping... and the people who kept stuff for us in their freezers... and the people who lent us coolers & crockpots. our friends from taylor rental (where ian's working this summer) made good on their offer to deliver everything and set up the tent. a couple other friends brought kindling & firewood for the bonfire.

then beth's torontonian sis & b.i.l. showed up with a niece in tow to jump into the flurry... and brought tremendous assistance to our last day scramblings... and to the unanticipated chaos (more on that in another post!).

then my floridian brother arrived unexpectedy... and early, psychically anticipating we might need an extra hand... just in time to help us shift extra junk from our garage to the neighbor's while sean did a quick re-organization of our shed to make even more room for unsightly objects... all so that we could serve the food in the garage instead of on the back deck, because a tornado watch was going into effect!

but when 6 o'clock rolled around... all was as it should be. the rain held off for awhile... and when it did show up, it didn't stay long. the wind cooled everything down a bit. and all in all, people had a nice time.

the food was great. the cake was fantastic (almost as good as mrs. fiock's! but not quite.) the place looked wonderful. and most importantly... the slushy machine was a big hit.

since ian's going into aviation, we had everyone sign a big airplane that he'll hang in his room next to an entertaining charicature of him sent from some cleveland friends.

of course... the best part of it all was reading cards some had sent and seeing people arrive who have poured into our son's life over the years... adding their own special lego piece to who he is today... and personally laying asphalt for his runway so that he has plently of room to take off and soar into the wild blue yonder.

wow. i think i've been reading too many hallmark graduation cards.

Lord... thank you for the friends and family who have supported and prayed for our son all these years. bless them for their thoughtfulness & generosity & love. they've each been a gift to build into his character... and helped to fill his memory with jewels that will seep joy & wisdom for many years to come.