On My Mind – Turquoise Table – 6/10/2018

I’ve moved a great deal over the course of the last 30 years – every two to three years on average.  I’ve lived in many cities – both here in the U.S. and overseas and I’ve always been both fascinated and gratified by the way communities come together and friendships form.  People always find a way to connect and enjoy each other – in ways that cut across the visible and attitudinal barriers that separate them.  Until recently, it’s something I’ve enjoyed in passing – arrive in a new location, create a home, find friends and then move on – taking with me the good memories and wondering forward about what I’ll find in the next location – wash, rinse, repeat.

A funny thing happened on that last move – we stayed – for 8 years now – and we’ve actually started to put down some roots.  Literal roots – as we’ve spent years working the same gardens, physical roots – as we’ve maintained, decorated and re-decorated the same house and emotional roots – as we’ve made and kept friendships.  It’s an experience I haven’t had since I left my family’s home to go to work in D.C. when I was in my mid-twenties.

We’ve been really fortunate in the area we chose.  It’s a very settled, very old Village up on the far north end of Chicagoland – fairly rural at one point – now a reasonably prosperous suburb with a great high school, a really quaint downtown area, a couple of pretty picturesque lakes that sit at the heart of the area and bunch of really great people.  I’ve always said it’s like someone extracted “Leave It To Beaver” from the 50’s and dropped it into the 21st Century by adding Cable, the Internet and Smartphones.

Our neighborhood has been a particular joy – walking distance from both the High School – a true Friday Night Lights town – and the Downtown Area – walk to dinner and stumble home – full of great friends.  We have what’s quickly becoming a tradition – called the Turquoise Table.  One of our neighbors read something in a magazine about a similar tradition out of Austin, TX, – an article about a traveling neighborhood party and – realizing that while she knew her neighbors, she never really carved out the time to be with them – launched our Friday Night Turquoise Table.

She and her husband purchased a used picnic table – installed some wheels – and four benches, then painted them all turquoise.  She pulled together a neighborhood roster and collected all our email addresses.  For two years now, as soon as the weather starts to warm, she emails the group to recruit volunteer hosts and fills up the Summer roster.  Every Friday afternoon from mid-May to about mid-September, the Turquoise Table turns up in a new front yard and, around 6:30, people start to drift over to the host home – carrying food and drink.  For the next three to four hours, you’ll find a group of 30 to 40 folks of all ages, sitting or standing, talking, laughing, drinking eating.  We’re out there until the sun goes down and the lightning bugs start to come out – enjoying the weather,  celebrating the end of another work week, enjoying one beer too many and checking in with neighbors.  It’s a great way to disconnect from what we do during the week and relax into whatever we have planned for the weekend.

Thinking about how much good that comes of it in our neighborhood, I couldn’t resist the temptation to put up a quick post on the topic – in hopes that others might give it a try.  Given the time we live in – both with respect to pressures we may experience as a result of things completely outside of our control or that feeling of isolation which sometimes results from living in an age where most of us communicate impersonally and electronically – I do believe we all need some kind of Turquoise Table – Pub, Park, Bingo Hall, Community Swimming Pool – whatever venue that you can find where most of the folks actually do know your name and are genuinely glad to see you.  It’s been a great thing for all of us.

Hope everyone has a great week.