Pancake Party

Sunday, September 24th, 2017

I opened the door to my apartment and stepped inside. It was dark and gloomy inside, the curtains stayed drawn and the air invited smelled just so, as if to say, "Sit down and stay a while, take a nap." I trudged in, threw my pack to the floor, then stepped out on the back patio. Just then Luke, Laura, and Sarah betrayed their presence with their voices as they walked into the apartment complex's main hallway. People! As soon as the patio gate swung open, Luke said, "And here's the man himself!"

Laura: "Are you still thinking about having a pancake party tonight?"

Ah, I had almost forgotten! "Oh, yes! Let's shoot for eight."

"Alrighty, see ya then! Is there anything I can bring?"

"Ooh, a cast iron pan would be nice so we can cook the pancakes faster."

"Cool, I bring that by when I come!"

With that Luke and I stepped into our apartment as Laura and Sarah went to theirs. We had about an hour to get the place cleaned up, so we started at it. A couple minutes in some of the guys from apartments three and six came by. We turned up the music, talked, and cleaned. Benjamin washed lots of dishes, Levi brought his laundry over so he could fold it and join in the pre-festivity festivities, and the others made the air resound with happiness and amiability. Soon enough it was eight and people started showing up. We left an open invitation to a bunch of people, and plenty came. Everybody loves a good pancake party, and they like my great grandma's recipe too. Soon enough pancakes were flipping off the pans and sliding down people's gizzards just as fast, landing comfortably in their stomachs. A little peanut butter, chocolate chips, bananas, butter and syrup adorned the flat fluffy bundles of goodness, and good old fashioned water washed it down. Conversation, laughter, and smiles abounded, mixing with that wonderful smell of pancakes fried on a bacon greased cast iron pan. Nothing is quite like that wonderful combination.

By and by I finished cooking and joined the happiness in the living room. Sitting down on the carpet, I found myself on the outside edge of a circle of sitters. Someone commented on my being on the fringe, to which I replied by scooting directly into the middle of the circle with a sloppy smirky grin on my face. I faced opposite Isaac (if I remember correctly) and attempted to start a variation of patty-cake with him. That went down in flames, and I soon after scooted back to a now open spot in the circle. Then I tried the same clapping game with Charli, and I taught her how to do it. As we got the hang of it we couldn't help but let smiles and laughter issue forth from our inner beings. Soon enough others wanted to learn, so Charli and I split up and taught them, and next thing you know half the room is playing this clapping game and seeing how fast they could go and how long. For the record, Elizabeth and I got the farthest, up to twenty-five. Then we started playing competitively, with pairs racing to fifteen and seeing who got there first. Charli and I won twice, and Luke and Christy won once.

After that we switched to a different clapping game that's group based, but that's too complicated to explain. After that we played ABCD, another hand game, and when you do the wrong letter, your hands get smacked. That's a lot of fun. After that we did a couple other need-nothing-but-yourself games until we sat down and started a hearty conversation touching upon the morality of following questionable orders as a public servant, praying to dead saints asking them to pray for you, and various other juicy topics. All in all a profitable exchange of thoughts. But alas, all things must come to an end, and around midnight everybody left. 

Pancake parties are really great, not just because you eat pancakes, but also because you get a bunch of people together for real fellowship. You don't all sit around silently watching a movie, (althoug that can be fun from time to time) but you actually interact with each other, furthering your friendships and forging new ones. As far as Sunday evenings go, this is one of my favorite ways to spend them, because it combines two things that I adore immensely: people and pancakes. What could possibly go wrong?