The extra chairs on the porch are put away. The leftover paper plates and cups have been stored in the closet, and after two days of concentrated skimming, I’ve worked my way through the four issues of the New York Times that I haven’t gotten to read. The guests are gone – all 19 of them, gathered at our house for a long weekend as the latest in a series of biennial reunions among college friends and their wives.
Walking through the empty house, I am revisited by a sensation I remember feeling when our sons went off to college – happy for the peace and quiet and the need to do less for fewer people, but within the silence missing the hum of conversation, the frequent laughter, and the spirit of camaraderie so thick it changes the texture of the air around us.
