Our trip to Connecticut last week to visit Jeff, Trish, and the
boys was timed perfectly. Not so in past years…two years ago we traveled
mid-December and froze our arses off. Last year our plans were canceled when
Hurricane Sandy arrived a day before our trip. This year, however, we enjoyed temperatures
in the mid-60’s and a beautiful display of fall colors. Perfect!
We spent our first day, Friday, touring the Mark Twain House in
Hartford. Samuel Clemons (Mark Twain) was as charming as he was handsome and
used both to win the heart of a very wealthy young woman. Smart man! The mansion
they built together in Hartford, where they lived for 17 years, was an architectural
work of art inside and out and would have cost millions in current dollars. We
finished the two-hour tour around noon and drove to New Haven on the coast to
have lunch and visit the Yale University Art Museum. It was exciting to see the
Yale campus…beautiful old buildings, each filling a long city block, clustered
together in downtown New Haven. The Art Museum is a newer, more contemporary
looking building and includes four floors of African, Asian, European, and
American art divided into pre- and post-1900 works.
From there we drove on to Newtown arriving late afternoon.
Jeff had planned dinner at Fusion 25 where the McKenzie’s celebrate all
birthdays and other special occasions and some not-so-special occasions. This
visit was to celebrate Verne’s upcoming birthday! After a warm greeting by the
owner and a short wait, we were seated at one of the eight tables that offers
the full experience of hibachi-style cooking and eating…think Benihana’s. A good time was had by all!
There’s never a dull moment in the McKenzie house with one
commitment or another all day long. I was told the Friday night-Saturday we spent with them is
typical...The three boys are active in sports so it follows that the weekend included either a practice or game for each. We finished Friday
night with an hour long tennis lesson for Parker…he’s got great foot work and
the sport suits him very well. Saturday morning we started our day with
Peyton’s golf match, walking with the team through the second hole. It was so
cute to see him carrying his little golf bag, practicing his swing, chatting
with his golf buddies…all of them so serious about the game and never fooling
around. They looked like a foursome of little old men out for a round of Saturday
morning golf. We were then off to Patrick’s baseball game. Some things never change…I
spent years attending Scott and Jeff’s Little League games and saw the full
range of parenting and coaching skills. In all cases, the kids just try to
please the parents. Saturday morning was déjà vu all over again! (Yes, I know
that’s redundant…it’s meant to be funny!)
We spent Saturday afternoon attending a Sandy Hook event to
support local merchants whose businesses have suffered over the past year since
the tragedy last December. We enjoyed lunch at the McKenzie’s favorite Italian
restaurant where we again were met with a warm greeting from the owner…not
Italian, but Albanian. He had me fooled. We were seated inside, and then
outside, and then back inside for lunch. Parker must attract bees, because he
was stung on the walk to the restaurant and no sooner were we seated outside on
the patio to enjoy the warm afternoon sun than the bees arrived and began
circling for another taste. It was back inside for us.
Mid-afternoon Jeff casually mentioned he’d invited a couple
of families over for dinner that night. The mere mention of a dinner party is
enough to cause my blood pressure to rise off the charts. Verne and I have been
hosting dinner parties for over 20 years now and we still experience the same
anxiety beginning about a week (sometimes two weeks) before the event. There’s
hours spent planning and sometimes experimenting (practicing) with the recipes.
By the day of the event, we’ve worked ourselves into a nervous frenzy. I’ve
even been known to have a small meltdown as our guests begin to arrive. I watched
in amazement as Jeff prepared for his company… He and Trish left to shop for
groceries around 5 p.m. (YIKES! Not at least the day before???) He returned and
began to make guacamole by hand…slowly in a Zenlike state he carefully minced,
diced, and chopped the veggies. (Where’s the Kitchenaid mini-processor???) Jeff
seasoned the chicken and put it on the grill, sliced the peppers and onions and
began to sauté them on the stove, steamed the tortillas in the oven…gradually
the fajitas came together. Friends arrived during the process (YIKES, this is when
I’d definitely have a melt-down!), the wine was poured, we talked, we laughed,
we enjoyed the food (the guacamole was excellent!) and good conversation, and
around 1 a.m. (YES! 1 a.m.) our day came to an end. Whew! We were exhausted and
hadn’t done a thing!
The balance of our visit was spent hanging out with the family.
No sports. No company. Several glorious hours sitting on the back deck in the
sun with a view of the woods, stone wall, and creek. Much of the time Patrick
was running around playing football by himself, chatting non-stop, occasionally
yelling “touchdown” and falling down and rolling in the grass. What a cutie!
One of Jeff’s close friends owns a nursery and, more importantly to Verne,
restores old cars and engines, so we made a trip to admire his collection, Jeff
bought flowering plants for the deck, and the boys each chose a pumpkin from
the fall pumpkin patch.
Patrick, now in third grade, wrote a note to his parents
when he was in kindergarten thanking them for going to a “learn to be the best
parents ever school.” Not only are Jeff and Trish the best parents ever, but active parishioners and community members. They manage to juggle all of these roles with ease,
calm, and humor!
