The Bbq ©

How was my bbq, many of you asked?

I invited 51 people and 36 came and ended at 1:30am due to the cold.
When I closed the door I went to bed and lay there staring at the ceiling.
My body was totally wasted and as I lay there I could hear each and every part of me complaining.
Gently mind you, but still complaining.
My feet
They took a beating because I stood infront the bbq for 4 hours.
I don’t know how those street venders do it.
Must be on crack.

When I wasn’t cooking I was chasing the ever-evolving rug rats that have learned how to stand on new found legs and run like the wind with no breaks down the laneway.
Young daredevils hitting the wide world of discovery for the first time, running free like a bird for the first time escaping the hands, straps and other restraints that were holding them back before, keeping them from enjoying freedom.
Smiles radiating from their faces as they run, eyes shining full of life as they rip down the laneway on weary legs.
Until they fall that is and the squeals of joy are replaced with screams of pain as eyes well up and wash away the joy in a salty river.
Then he finds himself strapped to his chair once more and is happy until the call for freedom is too much to contain once again.

When I wasn’t cooking or chasing daredevils I spent time sitting and talking with every one.
Archie was there with his singing and jokes that had people laughing their butts off.
Everyone started telling jokes for a couple of hours and by the time we had finished we had made fun of every nationality and religion in the world by every nationality and religion represented at the bbq.
No one can make fun of an Irishman like an Irishman can and the same for Greeks and Italians.
My sides were hurting from laughing so much.
I think Archie knows every donkey joke out there.

There was this man who used to travel the country side with this donkey and to make money he used to advertised that for a dollar if one could make his donkey laugh he would give them five hundred dollars and if anyone could make the donkey cry he would pay them a thousand dollars.
He would go to the taverns and all the drunks would stumble over and throw their money to this man and try and make the donkey cry or laugh but the donkey just stood there all the time looking blankly back.

One day an old man walked up to the man with the donkey and paid the man a dollar then walked up to the donkey and whispered in the donkey’s ear.
The donkey started laughing and laughing.
The old man walked back to the man and the man still in shock paid him the five hundred dollars.
Then the old man asked him if he could talk privately to the donkey behind the curtain, the man didn’t see anything wrong with that so he let the old man and the donkey stand behind a curtain for some privacy.
A minute later the old man led out the donkey and the donkey was crying and crying uncontrollably.
The owner of the donkey was beside himself but he paid the old man.

As the old man turned to leave with his money the owner of the donkey stopped him and wanted to know what he whispered in the donkeys ear to make him laugh.
“Oh, I just told him that my cock was bigger than his”
“How did you make him cry?” asked the owner.
“ I showed him,” said the old man.

My parents and 6 of the more senior guests stayed inside enjoying their time talking but they also helped a lot from in there getting many of the platters read.
Shooter duty was shared by all the ladies there so everyone was happy and getting drunker.
By the end of the night it was decided that next year I will not be making the jelly shooters but the ladies are going to make some fancy ones like chocolate martini jelly shooters and melon ball shooters.
There you go I’m loosing control all ready.
My cousin Maria brought lots of goodies to like two big trifles she made with fresh berries and lots and LOTS of whipped cream.
Mysteriously half of one disappeared.
Took me two days to eat it to.

My friend Kim was there telling Archie how her son still talks about how he got him drunk on Metaxa the year before as Archie was passing her a shot of Metaxa.
When she left later that night she told me she was drunk because of Archie and the never empting bottle of Metaxa in his hand.

Every body ate heaps of food from the twenty plus items sitting on the buffet table and there was still lots left so people took some home when they left.

There was a point when I came out from the house and stood on the back deck and looked down on this crowd all laughing eating having fun.
Greeks, Italians, Irish, Scottish, French, Polish, Christians, Atheists, Muslim all represented sitting together sharing life together.
Many came as strangers and left as family.
This is my family.

This is what it’s all about, not the food or the cost.
This is where all the loose strands get braided together to make ties stronger, binding us together for a longer time.
It’s the foundation of ones life.
Friends and family both touch your heart and are the only ones that can hurt you there.
To stand there and see their happy faces is all anyone should ever have to ask for out of life.

Also I decided that I was not going to build a deck, I couldn’t make on big enough to accommodate this many people and I have a feeling this is going to grow as it should. Families should grow closer not dissolve and disappear not matter how far apart you live.

We laughed, got drunk and ate like we had no worries in the world, we had a great time, young and old.
I can't wait until next year.

Have a nice day

Walker