Grill Envy

These days, the Pasz's have had a bit of a dip in the social life. Inherently social creatures, the symptoms of becoming reasonably responsible, married folk have shifted our routine a bit and we're just not invited to keg parties as much as we'd like to be. The husband is a man of substantial proportion, but make no mistake. He becomes light as a feather and can be turned upside down faster than our current economy if a keg stand is offered.

Weekends lately are comprised of movie nights, putt-putt, pizza joints and the occasional load of laundry. Some friends have moved away, others frequently traveling or preoccupied with doing their own laundry. And some are actual grown ups and don't wish they were doing keg stands.

This past weekend, a ray of light. A glimmer of hope. A former colleague emailed me on Friday to invite us to her cookout on Saturday. That's right, one day's notice. Most people would likely be booked on a Chicago spring Saturday. They would be too proud to accept an invitation that indicated such a clear afterthought.

My response (93 seconds later): "Hey! Absolutely! What time? What can we bring?!!!!!"

I made my most polished, perfected brownies from a box....from Walgreen's, gathered the husband, and off we went. We arrived to a glorious sun-filled deck stocked with every appetizer you can imagine, beer and wine for miles, and that large jug of vodka with sliced pineapples lining every inch of it. And, the GRILL. The grill, that since the beginning of time, has taken the pressure off of wives to remember to turn on the oven provide a decent meal and instead, called upon the man to deliver the goods.

The afternoon was filled with old and new friends, delicious grill-blessed food and, as you suspected, a whole plate of uneaten brownies I bought at Walgreen's. All in all, a great afternoon in a newly defined social landscape.

The only embarrassing moment was catching the husband suspended upside down chugging from the pineapple vodka jug.