How to Hunt and Gather

People. How to get them together? Everyone's busy. Schedules can be so different. I saw a commercial saying it can all be solved if I buy Chinet paper plates. It seems washing dishes is daunting enough that we can't have parties. The trauma of clean-up will run too deep, shattering families and destroying neighborhoods.

But dishes aren't my dreaded Rubicon. Doing the dishes means the people came, ate, enjoyed. Cleaning up is proof something took place that was worth making a mess for. It's the inviting part that messes me up. Not with big parties. Come-one-come-all is easy and I love it! But after hosting a couple big ones this summer, I found I was wanting smaller gatherings that can happen more frequently. Ones that don't involve Chinet.

The middle-ground, though, that gathering of six to 10 people is a hard one for me to hit. The intention is easily swamped by logistics. Who can come? On what date? How soon should I ask? How often should I ask? How many should I ask? What if they don't really want to come, but feel obligated? I'm stopped before I've begun.

I realized I need people to self-select, invite themselves, if you will. Therefore, I need a standing event that happens on a semi-regular basis with some semi-regular rules.

In July I launched the First Responders Supper Club - the FRSC. I'll be doing some writing on what that is and how its developing. So far it's good, it's really good!