Suddenly out of the blue, Chrebet and Bren, I believe, brought the thought about a gathering back to life. Aleja was still interested and now even more so since she would be able to have more time to save up. After going back and forth, the date was finally set!!! August 18-20!!!! Now to the planning!

Planning
A gathering in New York and New Jersey. Well what in god’s name could we do in New Jersey??? Yes, it’s considered the “Garden State” but I’ve yet to see a garden! I could point out all the cemeteries we have but that seemed a bit morbid! However, New York had everything – the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, World Trade Center, Times Square and the list goes on and on…. So we had to make a decision. Do we spend all our time and money all weekend in NY or do we find other things to do in NJ?

A conversation with Chrebet brought about 6 Flags. Excellent! A large amusement park where we can get dizzy with fun! Then I remembered hubby and I had pre-paid for 10 tickets to Comic Strip Live. Which is a cool thing, so now we have city nightlife we can show our out of town guests. Next, I figured a day of just hanging around and having a good time was another good way for us to spend some time together, so I offered my humble little home for a Sunday barbeque. With all the yeas we received on the suggestions, our weekend was set!

The Anticipation
Now it was the time for the wait. Already we knew that Aleja and Chrebet were big definites :o) Keith and I had been corresponding briefly about a teaser and I finally mentioned to him about our gathering and got him over to the folders. Chrebet had been speaking with One Eyed Jack and was able to get him over to the folder also. Wow! 6 people to come to the gathering! Miss Tif and I were beside ourselves! *Giggle* We still kept trying to talk Bren into making the weekend with us and finally she caved and we got not just her but her daughter also! 8!! *Swooning*

Then as the gathering date got closer and closer, 3 new surprises came to us. By email, Mimi and Melantha said that they would be making the trip to the gathering! *jumping up and down* and then in the gathering folder itself was a message from Jeandiata making her intentions known also. Miss Tif and I were flabbergasted!! What we thought would only be a lunch date of 2 really turned out to be a full blown party of 11!!!! So now, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make this into a really festive occasion!

Miss Tif and I met at the end of July to do a little shopping and a little planning. Already, I had in mind to get party bags together for everyone on the day of the barbeque at my house. What couldn’t be more fun than water pistols, chocolates and party hats???? Yup! That’s what we did! But, of course, as hosts we couldn’t just let them have all the fun – add a couple of cans of silly string and 2 super soakers – now you have a party! ;o)

Soon meeting times were being set, flight schedules and phone numbers were being exchanged, rooms being reserved and food/drinks were bought and stocked. Slowly my house began to look like party central: cases of soda and water stacked against one wall with boxes filled with other party items slowly filling up one room. I literally had to keep an eye on hubby so he didn’t open another bag of chips or eat the brownies or candies that were bought for the occasion.

Another unexpected surprise came to me via hubby. He mentioned his upcoming fantasy football draft and he wanted to have it in our home. I personally didn’t mind at all but when he told me the possible dates, my mouth just dropped! After critically looking at the house, I came to a momentous decision. I told him to have his party the day we had the barbeque. Giving me a total of 24 people I will need to buy food and drinks for. A couple of days later, hubby had requests from a couple of the guys asking if they could bring their girlfriends/wives. Ack! If all 12 guys did that, I would now have 36 in and out of this house! But whew it only turned out that 3 are definites. So, final count for Sunday gathering: 27. *plops down on chair*

The Rain
The never-ending rain that has been a thorn on everyone’s side along the eastern seaboard. I know I’ll remember it since I had almost an inch of water in my basement and it was a wonderful time to find out that there was a leak in the family room! Day and night, I cursed the rain. Day and night, I prayed that the rain would stop. Day and night, I thought about 27 people in the house and wondering if I had enough chairs for everyone!

August 12, 2000
This was the last day Miss Tif and I met to pick up any last minute items from the store and this was my chance to give her my car key to hand to Chrebet so that she could get my car Friday afternoon. She picked up things for her guests and I picked up some stuff for hubby’s side of the party. Oh, of course, I forget my car key! Grrrrr! I had to think of something quick.

This was it! The final weekend before the gathering. The next five days were gonna be long.

Day 1
All right, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Chrebet informed me that the extended forecast looked good with no rain in sight for the weekend. Woohoo!!! And finally I came up with a plan to meet Miss Tif in Parsippany to drop off my car key :o) Piece of cake!

Day 2
I was kept quite busy for most of the day :o) I was able to get in touch with Melantha and Aleja to make sure everything was all right. They were and already packing for their morning flights. By the end of the day, I was looking forward to seeing Miss Tif again knowing that finally I would have one less thing to worry about!

I told her I would be at our meeting place by 6:15pm and I was. Traffic wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I didn’t see her or her car, so I changed my parking spot and faced towards the park entrance just so I wouldn’t miss her when she came in. I pulled out my book and began to read. 30 minutes later no sign of her. Did she forget? Or did I give really bad directions? Just in case I give her a call at home. No answer but I leave a message. Back to my book. Another 30 minutes goes by and still no sign of her! Now I’m beginning to get worried. I mentally go through the email I sent her with the directions. Maybe one of the turns was wrong? Should she be on Route 80 instead of 287? I call her again and still no answer. I leave another message and finally leave. I get home and guess who calls!? She was there but at the other commuter’s parking lot! LOL! She forgot the directions but knew how to get to the general area. She asked someone for the Parsippany commuter’s parking lot and they sent her to the other one! So were both there at the same time, just only half a mile away from each other!!!! Ah well! Guess I’m just gonna have to overnight Chrebet the darn key! LOL!

Day 3
So I’m sitting at my computer catching up on subs when I get an email from Chrebet saying that Melantha’s and Aleja’s flights have changed! Uh oh! After panicking and making phone calls to all parties involved, it was finally settled between Chrebet and Miss Tif and things went well. I got a call that night from Melantha on my answering machine and all I could hear was giggles in between words. Eventually, once I had called them back, we were able to get full sentences out and finally welcomed her to New Jersey.

Day 4
I’m literally on pins and needles knowing that already Aleja and Melantha were near but I wasn’t going to see them till Friday night :o( Working again diligently on my computer giggle I am contacted by Miss Tif who gave me an update on the girls and mentioned that they were going to come into the city to do some sightseeing and asked them that they call me so that we could get together for lunch! Now I’ve got butterflies in my stomach. My goodness, what were they going to think about me? What was I going to think about them? It was one thing to “talk” on MN but to actually talk in real life was a bit frightening.

I get the call from the young ladies, gave them directions to my office and waited. Two hours later, they were here! I was half running and half forcing myself to slow down and not look like a fool walking through my office to go and meet the girls. :o) From the first moment we met, everything just clicked. I’ve seen pictures of Aleja before so I recognized her right away. It was so great to finally meet my {{{{{sis}}}}} and to meet {{{{{Mel}}}}}} We walked across the street to Tequilaville for lunch where sure enough, all we did was laugh and giggle. I was too nervous and excited to eat anything but I forced down what I could. They surprised me with a large mug filled with chocolates and this cute little teddy bear which is now amongst the other stuffed animals on my desk. And so they leave, directing them towards Times Square and onto home.

Day 5 – The Beginning
The morning I woke up, my paranoia started. I checked my purse several times that morning before leaving for work to make sure I had the tickets for the comedy club. Then I had to make sure I had money for food and drinks and emergencies. Time at work seemed to drag. Will it ever end??? Aleja and Melantha came back into the city and we had lunch once again AND they were able to convince my boss to let me leave early so that we could go to the Empire State Building, which I admit I still haven’t visited myself. Then my panic starts again.

I get a call from Jeandiata that her flight was delayed for an hour. Okay, no problem, there was still plenty of time and she wouldn’t miss any of the night’s festivities. So I call Keith myself just to make sure that he got all of Jean’s previous 5-10 messages she must have left herself, hehehe. Half-hour later, I get another call from Jean, her flight was delayed again! At this point I’m taking deep breaths and my mind begins to work overtime. But I have a plan! I am prepared! I make my phone calls to Jean, Keith and Miss Tif with the new changes and everyone is in agreement. Miss Tif would pick up the people at the hotel: Chrebet, Jack and Mimi and Keith and Jean would just go straight into the city from the airport and meet us at the comedy club. Excellent! Everything was in order once more. Well almost, LOL!

As I mentioned before, we all exchanged cell phone and beeper numbers to keep in touch while we were all mobile. Well, this poor guy, named Nick was receiving phone calls from myself and Jean about her flight changes on his cell phone, who we actually thought was Keith!!! LOL!!! But this Nick was sweet enough to call Jean back and leave her a message that she had the wrong phone number so that she could come up with alternate plans. I was the lucky one who got to talk to him and he was so sweet about the whole thing. I finally called Keith at home once more and got the correct number! {{{{{Nick}}}}} whoever and wherever you are!!! LOL!!!

I got in touch with Chrebet and Jack to find out about my car and they were just on their way to get it. Yay! However it had started to rain. I have a really bad wiper on the driver’s side. So I began to worry. Chrebet handed the phone over to Jack. *giggle* As soon as he said hello, the first thing out of my mouth was, "Well, don't you just sound adorable." He laughed and said, "Well, you sound good yourself." Now that that ice was broken, I relayed my fears to him and he assured me that he could handle it. Hehehe, I’ll let him or Chrebet tell you what happened when they got my car.

So in the pouring rain, Aleja, Mel and myself decide to walk the 30 blocks to the Empire State Building. I showed them how to really cross the streets of New York and to avoid the huge puddles of water when a bus was ready to drive by. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t think I was going to be doing this walk so all I’ve got on is a little black dress, a sweater and my black lug Mary Jane shoes. Not exactly "walking in the rain" wear. But at least my clothes didn’t get wet, so that wasn’t a big deal. We get to the building only to find that the observatory deck was closed and even if you went up to the 86th floor all you would see was a wall of fog *sigh* So there went that plan!

On the way back to the office, we stop at a few souvenir shops. In one particular one, there were 5 men working in this shop. Of course one of them pegs us as being tourists. This was our conversation: Man: “So, where are you ladies from?”
Aleja/Mel: “California.”
Jinx: “New Jersey.”
Man: points to Jinx and says, “Get out of here.” Cue in laughter. “So, how do you all know each other?”
Jinx, Mel and Aleja look at one another and laugh.
Jinx: “How should I put this?….We met online.”
Man: “Oh, you’re one of those.” He says with that knowing voice that he knew I was an out of the closet lesbian!!!!
Jinx: laughing “Nope, sorry, I’m a happily married woman.”
Man: “Well, nowadays, you can be anything.”
Jinx: “True, but trust me, it ain’t like that.” *laughing again* At this point he points to another guy and says: “See that guy, he goes on and pretends he’s a lesbian. All the ladies talk to him.”
Jinx: “Well, of course! You both want the same things.” *more laughing and we finally leave*

So, I will say right now, I have officially come out of the closet, ROTFLMHO!!!!!!!

We walk the 30 blocks back, the rain lessening by then. We stopped and got them soft pretzels (can’t leave NY without trying one!) then went back to my office to dry off. With less than 2 hours left before we were to meet everyone, the girls got changed to drier outfits and we took the subway towards the comedy club where I treated them to pizza. They got the NY experience down but they’ll have to come back to try the dirty water dogs ;o)

Comedy Club
A quarter to seven we were standing in front of the comedy club. We all agreed to meet between 7:30 and 8:00. Aleja begins to take pictures of the buildings as the night closes in on us. Small groups of people begin to enter the club but no sign or word from the others. By 7:30, I begin to make my phone calls. Chrebet is nowhere near her pager or phone. Keith answers his phone and tells me that he is just in front of the Holland Tunnel but traffic was bad. No problem, still an hour left before the show started. I get a call from Chrebet, they are still in NJ and haven’t left yet. Oooookay… So now I begin to panic once more. It was still early so they could still make it and with it being later traffic wouldn’t be bad getting into the city. By 8:30 still no sign of Keith and Jean or the other group. As luck would have it, two cars pull out of spaces in front of the club. Now, how funny would it be if Keith just happened to drive by and get these spots??? Hehehe, I call him back on his cell phone and directed him towards the spots! Perfect! *Giggle*

We all hug each other hello and finally go in. Chrebet knew the name the reservations were under so they would just meet us inside. We order our drinks, sit back and watch the show. About half an hour later, Jack and Chrebet walk in and twenty minutes after that Miss Tif and Mimi follow. It was difficult to say hello to one another during the acts but after the whole show was over we all made up for it. We went to Bennigan’s afterwards where we all ordered beer and dessert. Chocolate desserts of course! And the picture taking started.

I got home by 3am with only 4 ½ hours of sleep to look forward to.

6 Flags
Okay, we get a slightly late start *weg* At this time Bren and her daughter, Helen, joins us. More hugs and laughter and soon we are off. After dealing with turnpike traffic and one pit stop along the way, we get to the park! Woohoo!!! During the last part of planning stages, I was contacted by WT to give a present to one of our birthday girls this weekend :o) I was asked that I not say who it is from but as soon as she opened it, she would know. I was able to sneak a picture in without her knowing, but I was caught! LOL!!! I have been given many offers of bribery but knowing that I was in full possession of the one picture of the mysterious Bren, I wasn’t going to let this power go just yet! ;o)

The day was gorgeous and just being with everyone was great! No real groups broke apart, it was constantly changing depending on who wanted to go on what ride. We talked and laughed some more and a few of us got henna tattoos, which mine is now slowly fading. As for myself, I was doing just fine till I got to the final ride of that night. It was the Batman and Robin Chiller. The ride was fun going forward but when it started to go backward, that wasn’t fun anymore and the fact that my head kept banging against the head rest didn’t bode too well for my sense of inertia! If I didn’t talk, I was fine but trying to walk a straight line was another story! We finally called it quits at the park. Miss Tif and I went to the car directly while the others stopped at the gift shops on the way to the cars. We sat in the car, the driver and passenger seats fully reclined and I nearly fell asleep as Miss Tif tried to warm up.

Jack was a dear and took over in driving my car back to the hotel. I moved over to the front passenger seat and Miss Tif sat in back behind me. The aspirins not working fast enough, Miss Tif gave me a neck, shoulder and facial massage. *making Homer Simpson-like noise* Man, did that ever feel good! Then Jack reaches over and takes my left hand and gives that a massage while driving. Oy! I’ve never been pampered so much in my life, LOL! Thanks to their magic hands, my headache was gone and I was able to drive home with no pain! This time I was able to get 7 hours of sleep! Woohoo!!!!!!

One funny thing happened on the way to my car when I was at the hotel. Chrebet walked down with me so that I could get a few things from her caar for the barbeque tomorrow. As we walked out of the hotel, we are hit with this awful smell. Of course, I recognized it instantly. The first thing out of her mouth was, “What the hell is that smell?” I laughed and said, “Skunk.” And she comes back with, “They have skunks in NJ???” Luckily it was only a passing spray and not a full blown one or else Chrebet would have hightailed it back to Long Island!! LOL!!!!

Barbeque
Despite the list that I left for hubby yesterday before my trip to 6 Flags, he never got the chance to do the shopping that he was supposed to do. So out we both go to fill the propane tank, buy bags of ice, get the rest of the food that we needed and the alcohol! Now with 2 hours left before everyone got to the house, I started with the chili, I started melting the chocolate for the strawberries, ice was poured into plastic tubs and every available cooler we could get our hands on. It was actually a good thing that I was as busy as I was because, I was going to make more food when in reality I didn’t need it after the party was over! I’m going to be eating hot dogs, hamburgers and chili for the next month! Plus the two ice cream cakes, the chocolate cake and cheesecake we asked Keith to make and bring. Anyone wants to come over for dinner and dessert?????

Party bags were given out as delighted laughter came from everyone. Already the squirt guns were being armed!!!! Lots of little stories and inside jokes were happening by this day. Being the gracious hostess, LOL!, I missed alot of the jokes but the ones that I was around for, I can clearly remember, hehehehe. A couple of hot dogs were used as props for…er…um, a demonstration, hehehe, and the various uses of whip cream was always a fun topic of conversation, LOL! Chrebet made wonderful frozen drinks and despite the low flame on the grill, the food was good ;o) And really, no tofu burgers were served at this event!!! LOL!!!!! To add to the dessert we already had, I got two small ice cream cakes for Bren and Aleja for their birthdays. Again, anyone wants to come over for dinner and dessert????

Somehow during the course of the day, a free camera I received from Victoria's Secret was hijacked (literally! LOL!!!!) and became the amazing camera with x-ray vision!! I've been told what is on that camera, so now I'm the sole possessor of some very revealing pictures that I would be more than happy to give out...at the right price, of course *weg* Bidding starts at $100. Any takers? *giggle*

The night was slowly winding down and the party moved from outside to inside. {{{{{Bren and Helen}}}}} were the first to leave since they had to drive all the way back to Long Island. The night was starting to get bittersweet. Those members in the NY/NJ area made promises to get together again for dinner in the city.

Then there were 9
For a final hoorah, we did lemon drop shots. If we weren’t buzzing at all during the day, I’m sure we were after those shots! Jack was driving back home that night also, so everyone had to start gathering all their things and head back to the hotel. Miss Tif and I tried to figure out the food situation and I won since I kept all of it! LOL!!!! Anyone for dinner?? (gotta keep asking!) Aleja was also leaving in the morning and I knew I wasn’t going to see her before she left. So big huge hugs were given to {{{{{Jack}}}}} and {{{{{sis}}}}} Once rides to the airport for the following day was determined by those who would be available to give them and plans for lunch tomorrow were made, we all finally said goodnight and goodbye :o(

Then there were 7
The next day, I met Chrebet, Jean and Mimi at their hotel. We sat around waiting for Keith, Mel and Miss Tif, who decided to take a day off with the rest of us :o) Once we were all together, we went to the same Bennigan’s from the night before. Lunch was ordered, final pictures were taken then it was off to Dairy Queen for ice cream! (like I need anymore sweets after what I have waiting for me at home!) After we all placed our orders, there our group of 7 splits up as {{{{{Chrebet and Mel}}}}} headed off to JFK Airport, {{{{{Mimi}}}}} drove back home and {{{{{Keith}}}}} headed off to work.

Then there were 3
Miss Tif and I take Jean to the airport where we first had to find a parking spot! Never ever, fly in with Delta, the lots are too small for that particular terminal snicker With my quick eye, LOL, I quickly point out a space and with an hour before her flight, we wait inside with Jean till she was called. We talked about the weekend and with {{{{{Jean}}}}} promising that CP had better roller coasters, we will try to plan a visit sometime in the future. Her flight was finally called. We hug once more and then she was gone.

And then there were 2
I had a blast everyone. I miss you all already and want to get together again! Now when exactly was the NJ/NY winter gathering going to take place???? *weg*