When we first moved into our neighborhood, the dozen houses on our end of the street were also the edge of the entire neighborhood. Our homes were all newly built and we’d all moved here from other places. It was a no-brainer that we should all be new friends.
Less than two weeks after our furniture was delivered, we hosted our first “Martini Monday.”
It was essentially a Monday evening happy hour where our nearby neighbors could come over for drinks and chat. It was a great way to meet each other and get those friendships started.
Regular monthly Martini Mondays continued until COVID. Two dozen people in our home was never going to happen during the pandemic. We tried having a socially distanced street party. It was fun and we all embraced the opportunity to get together, but by the end of the party we were really not distanced.
Then COVID really amped up. Our end of the block split into safer “pods” of friends and our group dropped from two dozen to six (sometimes eight). It was still social. Those friends became family. It was fun to get together, but the big group dynamic was missing. As COVID eased, we all said hello and stopped to chat on our walks, but the monthly parties never returned. Until now!
Last night we hosted the true return of Martini Monday. We had nearly two dozen friends over. We sipped cocktails and wine and caught up on all the things we’d been missing. We’d tried to get these gatherings back on the schedule for months, but they were sparsely attended as people struggled to get back to their pre-COVID lifestyles.
Several neighbors are still away for the heat of the summer, but in a couple of weeks we should all be back together again. The party is already scheduled and invites have already been sent.
I am thrilled that we will soon be living up to the reputation we created for ourselves as “the” party street. We set an early example that many other streets are now following and we couldn’t be happier for their camaraderie.
There’s a whole world out there just waiting to be explored. When home is a never-ending party, life is a blast.
The World A to Z 