#Middlebury #Seniors
The annual Christmas dinner at the senior center was a wonderful event, mostly because it didn’t happen at all. The original plan – seniors sitting in a cold parking lot outside the center to eat food that would stay hot for maybe one minute – was ditched by means of a petition to board members. That petition mentioned the absolute folly of the whole outdoor dining idea. The board’s second plan was to host the dinner indoors, but for only one-third the number of guests, with clear Plexiglas shields on the tables, which would interfere with conversation.
There was a snap, an awakening, an audible collective click – and the seniors said NO. The former recreation-center supervisor, who had quit after too many snarling meetings about yoga classes masked versus unmasked, was brought back to open the rec center. He’d fled to his cabin in the woods, tossing the keys to others, to sit out the insanity, at which point the town changed the locks. Once brought back, he quickly jimmied open the rec center door and installed a new lock, smiling the whole time.
Organizers came together in secret with not a word said to senior-center board members (or the town council). Tables and chairs were borrowed. One of the town’s finer restaurants (the owner himself a senior) was coaxed into providing finger foods and drinks and two bartenders. A half dozen seniors who were in a band years ago regrouped to provide the music and play songs we actually knew.
The annual Christmas dinner turned dance party was a major hit, and just what we needed after this long pandemic lockdown. We ate and we mingled and we drank and we laughed and we danced. And long after what should have been bedtime for most of us, we were still there dancing.
© 2021 King Features Synd., Inc.
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