THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 20, 1994 TAG: 9411180174
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Ford Reid
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
It hasn't taken us long to get used to the empty nest. The youngest boy left for school out of state in late August, and in just a few weeks, all the bedrooms but our own had become offices, studios and specialized places of escape.
The living room was transformed from a sort of mini rock and roll hall of fame to a place where adults could sit, although none ever do.
We quickly became accustomed to spending 50 percent less on groceries and fell into habits of sloth unfit to be seen even by one's own children. You've got to set an example, you know, or at least try.
The problem with an empty nest is that it doesn't stay that way. Nature abhors a mostly empty house at least as much as it abhors a vacuum.
On those occasions when the nest does fill again, it tends to be to overflowing.
First, my daughter called from Kentucky to say that she would be coming home for Thanksgiving. That news was welcomed, of course, since she promised not to bring her huge dog with her. It's not that I don't like her dog. It's just that I don't plan to be planting any mature trees so I don't really need any big holes in the yard.
Then my niece said she'd like to come and her mother, my sister, said she guessed she'd come, too.
Assorted nephews, sons, in-laws and grandchildren added their names to the list. Even my brother-in-law, who rarely wanders farther from his garden than the mailbox, decided to visit when I mentioned that I might be able to scrape up a bushel of decent oysters.
I will be happy to see each and every one of them. They are all delightful people, easy going and entertaining.
I wasn't paying much attention to the crowd that would soon gather until I added up the numbers in my head. There will be 19 of us here for the holiday.
Usually, my wife worries mightily about where everyone will sleep. She plans and plans, drawing charts and diagrams, juggling people from room to room, from bed to bed.
This time, she is not even thinking about it. If she did, she would probably burn down the house before anyone arrives.
Fortunately, members of my family are not terrible picky about where they bed down. I have a 25-year-old picture of one of my nieces, who was about three at the time, asleep in a suitcase. Talk about someone who was born to travel.
Everything will work out.
The trick to entertaining large numbers of relatives is to ignore them.
I don't mean that in a cruel sense. What I mean is that you must behave as if there are always 19 people living in your house.
Let people take care of themselves, let them do what they want to do.
Pretend that there is nothing abnormal about any of this. We are, after all, one big happy family.
That's about all there is to it.
Well, that and making sure you are the first to the shower in the morning so that there is still some hot water. by CNB