People coming over

If I were Rod Stewart I could sing “Tonight’s the night,” but I think I would mean something very different to what he meant.
Tonight we are having friends over. I want to make this sound really dramatic.  Merril I have been working till we drop.  It really needs more.  Merril and I are working till we drop, and they take us away and bury us and we dig ourselves out and work some more.  That sounds better, but it has slipped into the realm of fiction.  Apart from not being true, it is totally true.  It definitely would be more convincing if there was much to do.  Whatever the case, we are ready.  Well, we will be.
Tonight we are having over friends, new and old.  When I say “old” I don’t mean old.  Well, maybe some of them are a bit long in the tooth, but hey, age is all in the mind.  Apart from the deteriorating physical condition, my prime being a thing of the past and limited options, it doesn’t exist.  B.J. Thomas sang “growing old was different, than I always thought it would be, the sweetness of my youth just grew with age.”  Yeah right.  I am fond of the saying “you know you are getting old when you bend over to get something and think, what else can I do while I am down here.”
At this point not everyone is known to everyone else.  I am hoping that is quickly rectified.  This will probably be the only time in the history of the universe we are in the one place at the one time.  I often think that in lifts.  We all shuffle in and mostly stand in silence.  If we are a long way from the numbers, someone usually kindly asks us what number we want, and presses it.  To me, I see it as a once in a life time event.  There is a good chance we will not be together in one place again.  I see it as a time for the enthusiastic shaking of hands, and introductions, and everyone talking at once.    But no, we generally just stand there in silence. 
Most of us have our eyes glued to the numbers, if we can see them.  If we are fortunate there are not only numbers at the side, but they are above the door as well.  That way we can all see them together.  It is one of the times we are pleased our number comes up.
We watch the numbers, and people file in and out.  Those that have been waiting for the lift, mostly stand aside while those in the lift who have to, disembark.  It seems those who want to catch the lift, have been patiently waiting for it.  However this is an assumption.  They very definitely could have been impatiently waiting for it.  I don’t know, but they may have been pacing up and down awaiting its’ arrival.  Maybe they were involved in life and death struggle with someone, and they were wrestling and punching each other until the lift arrived.  I cannot say, because I may be in the lift, and they are out there and unseen by me.  I remember in an episode of Get Smart, they were fighting in the library and every time the librarian came out, they sat quietly on a chair reading.
So tonight friends come over.  We will have music, food and fun.  Really, it seems to me, it does not get much better than that.