A Fun-Filled Weekend in Jane’s Domain

It’s Monday afternoon. I’m still finishing my morning coffee because, well, I slept over 10 hours last night. I kind of have a rule of not drinking coffee in the afternoon because I don’t want to be awake all night from the caffeine buzz.

 

Guess I’ll be testing that little theory tonight, won’t I? If I’m able to fall asleep with no interruptions, I may have to change my ways. You’ll see me with my hot pink coffee mug permanently attached to my fingers guzzling java at dinnertime.

 

Anyway. WHY am I drinking coffee in the afternoon and WHY did I sleep over 10 hours last night?

 

Well, it’s because I went to Steubenville for my friends’ daughter’s graduation party over the weekend. That’s the quick answer. The long answer follows.

 

See? Long time friends.
Nick had hair and I was cute!

I’ve written about him before – but I’ve known Nick since my first year at Ohio State and we’ve been friends ever since. Time used to be measured in years, but now we measure it in decades.

 

Yikes – how is this possible? And when did we get so old??

 

But it never matters once we all get together because we just fall right back into our decades-long friendship. Other OSU friends were there, too. Nick’s twin brother, Joe (of course) and Charisse from Cleveland and Butch and his wife Dragana from Columbus. (Whom I never see, by the way, even though we live only about 15 miles from each other.) 

Other friends I’ve known seemingly forever – the two Mikes and Randy and Chris and Deena and Nick. (I hate when I name names…I’m always worried I’m going to leave someone out. Plus, I’m never sure if people actually want me to name their name!)

 

Nick and Beth’s daughter is heading off to college in the fall and I just wish so much for her in her college experience. I hope she learns a lot. I hope she has fun. I hope she makes mistakes (because we all do), but I hope she accepts those mistakes and learns from them.

 

But, mostly, I hope she meets a group of friends that she will be able to laugh with, lean on and grow with for the rest of her life.

 

The party, by the way, was amazing. The decorations were incredible. There were so many pink balloons, my little heart was overwhelmed with joy. But, truthfully? I got tired just looking at them all because I know how much time and effort went into all that decorating. 

But Beth did not act exhausted in the least. (Unlike me during some of the mega-parties Vince and I used to throw. I’d sit down somewhere during the middle of the party wishing I could just take a nap!)

 

But I also know they had a lot of help and support. That’s the kind of people they are – will step in and give anyone a hand – so others want to do that for them, too.

 

They had food catered from all sorts of local eateries (Pastaio and Scaffidi's – if you’re ever in the area, you should definitely check ‘em out). Other places, too, but I don't remember their names. Nick prepped some of the food himself. And there were cakes and cookies and tiramisu, oh my! 

The pool table was covered in pink plastic and then covered again with snacks and crackers and meats and olives and other appetizers. So much food that I actually thought that was the party food.

 

How am I still making this rookie mistake? Italians do NOT stop at mere appetizers!

 

I only found out later that the lasagna, meatballs, chicken limone and all manner of Italian foods and pastas were being served in their outdoor kitchen. (I used to think we had a lot of space in our house what with our two kitchens both upstairs and downstairs. Yeah, right. We were rank amateurs. Nick and Beth have three…!)

 

But as the party progressed, we toasted our friendships with limoncello shots. We took lots of photos. I drank more wine in one night there than I had in the entire previous month. We got into serious conversations. We got silly and laughed. A lot. We chatted and caught up with one another’s lives.

 

There were a couple people there I hadn’t seen since before Vince passed who gave me reassuring heart-felt hugs and also gave me a chance to talk about him a little bit. So, even though I missed him (as I do every single day), I didn’t have too much time to be sad.

 

But he would’ve loved being there in the middle of it all. And he would’ve taken far more pictures than I did.

 

And it was after 3 a.m. before I headed upstairs to crash on the couch.

 

I slept for a few hours only to get up in the early morning, head out to the patio near the pool and hot tub – and do it all over again. Well, except for the limoncello shots and the wine. For me, anyway. Driving back to Columbus later in the day precluded me drinking anything but coffee and my ever-present 24 oz drink bottle filled with water.

 

Everyone else waited until the afternoon before they broke out more bottles of wine. And they also brought out the trays of leftovers for an afternoon meal.

 

I was inside looking at the pool table once again covered in pink plastic and large trays of foil baking pans. I laughed and said, “This would be the party food I had for one of my parties. Here, it’s your leftovers!”

 

Well, maybe that wasn’t entirely true. Vince was of the opinion that it was far better to have plenty of leftovers than to run out of food to serve your guests.

 

He did not subscribe to the Anne and Henry Domian Food Serving Rules. Wherein a person was offered either a hamburger or a hotdog during a Saturday cookout.

 

That used to make Vince laugh as he and his friend John used to cook burgers and hot dogs and steaks and chicken AND crab legs on the grill. Concurrently. But, on the other hand, mom and dad didn’t used to waste food, either.

 

Anyway, it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. Nick supplied me with enough leftovers to last the better part of this week. And I drove home exhausted but smiling thinking about the conversations we had and my friendships with these special people.

 

How ‘bout you? What fun thing did you do this past weekend?