Fred and Mary's Engagement Party

Winter 2001

Last night Tim and I went to Fred and Mary's engagement dinner. It was at a restaurant just across the road from the development where Tim and I live, so we walked over. We hugged the edge of the road while people honked and whistled by. Fred and Mary met us in front of the restaurant and escorted us upstairs to a private room where my all time favorite karaoke singer, Ray, was at work creating his own unique form of entertainment. The volume was truly amazing with four large speakers mounted on same the wall as the TV. Ray has the stage presence of a Sinatra. He flips the mike cord out of the way with his foot like an old pro. I am in awe. I am equally in awe of his amazingly consistent sense of pitch which is always a significant amount lower than the music on the tape. Ray needs to be introduced to lip-syncing, or maybe not...

Everyone then greeted us and most of them had some little bit of English to greet us with. It was very sweet. Most I had never heard speak a single word of English. I was touched at their efforts to include us and make us feel at home. As the next karaoke singer began, I found my digital camera and started clicking away. People started crowing around so I showed how you could instantly see your and the crowd went wild. Forget the wedding couple, this was a chance for everyone to pose together for all of posterity. Items such as this camera are very good at bridging the language barrier. However, this evening, with the volume being what it was, I got the sense we understood as much of what was being said as anyone else. Smile, laugh at whatever, and you are in. Soon dinner started to be served and the volume went down a wee bit on the TV. First a soup pot was brought out and 12 small bowls of soup were placed on the large lazy susan in the center of the table. Over time, dish by dish of food came out; one delicious course after another. I looked around at all these kind people and felt thankful for having met them and for their friendship. It all seemed to flow just the way it should. It actually sort of felt like home.