My Life as a Novel

Main Characters:
Kyle - the dreaming idealist
Rita - the practical realist

The Plot: How one phone call started a ball-rolling which helped plans to develop for a Fourth of July "get-together" at our house.


The date was Saturday, June 30. Kyle walks into the front door, busily chatting on the phone and meets Rita in the kitchen.

Kyle: Here, you can just talk to her and make sure everything's ok. (hands phone to Rita)
Rita: Hello?
Voice on Phone: Rita. It's Andrew. Hey! Jeannette and I were thinking about coming down to Charleston next week and thought maybe we could crash at your place ...

(long conversation of details ensued. They are to arrive "early next week".)

Rita (to Kyle): Well, that's cool. Having friends over is fun. We've really gotta get that orange room cleaned out now. There are boxes that need to be moved up to the attic, so Andrew will have a place to sleep.


The next day was Sunday, July 1. Kyle and Rita are at home relaxing on the sofa sometime before lunch.

Kyle: Since Andrew and Jeannette are going to be here, don't you think it would be fun to have some friends over. Maybe we could all eat lunch together and watch Arrested Development. Lots of people have been asking to borrow the 3rd Season from us, so we could just have a marathon and everyone watch it together.
Rita: Yeh, that would be fun. But we can't really afford to buy a lot of food, so we could light up the grill and just tell them to bring something to put on it.


Later that evening:
Kyle: Yeh, I was talking to Jeremy. Maybe on Wednesday afternoon, when all of our friends are over, we could set up and play some of our stuff in the studio area. Andrew and Jeannette haven't ever heard us play, and I think they would enjoy that.
Rita: Yeh, that sounds like fun. (Immediately thinks of neighbors. Decides to send them all a note warning them of the music that will be finished by 8 PM so they can shoot off their fireworks without interruption.)


The next day, a call from Kyle at work:
Kyle: Andrew's going to play. Jeremy's bringing over this girl who can play some of her stuff. We've really gotta get the studio spic and span, which means we have to move the dog crates out and really clean it up. Do you think you can clean the carpet down there before Wednesday? I've invited (list of names) and everyone's really excited about hanging out.
Rita (thinks): Oh my.


My husband LOVES to entertain. We have a New Years Party every year and he, honestly, starts planning for it in August. He dreams big. I find myself having to rope in his ideas sometimes like, "Kyle, is this really practical?" It's a balancing act that we're still figuring out.

If tomorrow comes off without one of us biting the others' head off, I will be very happy. In the meantime, I will be cleaning.

Hope your holiday is as fun and full of friends as mine promises to be.

Labels: family, Friends, holidays, The Hubby