Heavy wind and rain are forecast for today, blowing in on the wings of a strong cold front that brought dangerous tornadoes to adjoining states yesterday. It is so warm now — at 4 a.m., it is 60 degrees — that it feels a bit ominous for December 10th in this hollow of our Appalachian Mountains. But for now, it is very quiet and calm in the darkened house, and I don’t even need to huddle in a quilt as I usually do as I write.
We discovered a new restaurant yesterday, one of those delightfully homey ones that make you feel like an honored guest rather than a customer. The waiter plied my husband with all the blue cheese he could have desired, and he was beamingly satisfied when we left. We will return; these folks know the art of hospitality.
I have a friend like that. We were invited to a second Thanksgiving dinner at her home, and the entire family received us in such a warm, “we-are-so-fortunate-to-have-you” manner that we felt like honored guests. And the food!!! Those three exclamation marks say it all.
My sister has even trained her two young cats (if one can ever be said to “train” a cat, since all us cat owners know the opposite is true) to receive guests with open paws and hearts. If Peter and Piper could talk, they would be leaping about joyfully, shouting, “yay, yay, she’s here, this person is here who gives the best belly rubs in the whole world, yay, yay!!” Makes you feel downright welcome.
I, on the other hand, have cats who scurry under the sofa when anyone comes, and one dog who entertains with the explosive and mind-splitting call of his ancestors, while the other jumps about in frenzied and alarming joy at the possibilities of Possibility. Plus a bird who for the last 20 + years has greeted guests with his only sound, a long seductive wolf whistle, also somewhat alarming. (I have to admit to training him to do that for ego-enhancing reasons — I also trained him to sing other lovely songs, but this was the only one that took.)
Some folks just have the gift of hospitality. And what a heart-warming one it is! One to be treasured and hugged to one’s heart with humble gratitude . . .
My mother, who was a shy person who would probably rather have hidden under the sofa like Pickles my cat, and also the one who likely instilled in me a love of quotations that still swirl randomly about in my head today, often quoted (or misquoted: “be careful to be hospitable, ‘cause you might be entertaining angels unawares.”
So on this day of wind and rain and storms, here’s to the art of hospitality! I’m gonna bake Christmas cookies, just in case someone drops by.
