Affinities or …

The alchemy of humans.

Over the years (or “back when I was young” as one of the participants kept repeating last night: mind you she was the youngest of us five) I have attended many cocktail parties, been to many a conference, enjoyed my share of dinner parties, been bored to tears by other gatherings and in short have been sociable under many conditions and with a wide variety of professions, social strata, cultures and disparate lots of persons.

I can count on the fingers of one hand however those events that had all the participants laughing till they cried. What is it that allows us sometimes to connect? What strange alchemy hits? Why do some very compatible-seeming groups only enjoy “normal” whereas others, seemingly with not much at all in common, suddenly gel and produce one of those events forever remembered?

Such was the case last night: two persons retired from the same company, two others having served on a committee with them during their professional life with the fifth currently working at that company. The catalyst? In retrospect our human experiences. We touched on two of the “forbidden” topics (i.e. politics, religion), but it was the exploration of learning where each grew up, more of their family circumstances and recent losses that lead to laughing fits and tears in our eyes.

It’s a good thing that we had a round, corner table: we actually closed down the restaurant, never mind that in Calvinistic Geneva that happens at midnight on a week night.

The glow of the laughter will carry me through yet another gray day – weather wise that is.