Getting together

In 1950s and 1960s Georgia, when you ran into people you knew at, say, the grocery store or filling station, one or the other of you would say, by way of farewell, "Y'all come see us!'

In time, some of them would come--or vice versa--because that's what people did.  People stopped by.  Doors were rarely locked.  Usually the on-the-spot hostess found some cake or pie to serve, along with sweet iced tea.

Back then, we didn't say, "Let's get together for coffee or lunch soon"--in part because going out for coffee or lunch wasn't yet in the mainstream culture of middle-century/ middle-class/ middle Georgia, and in part because we were practical and frugal people and our mamas cooked three meals almost every day.  Besides, our little college town had only three eateries, The Grill, Scott's Barbecue, and a fast food burger joint called The Brazier.

Homes were where people gathered--spontaneous biscuits and sausage after church on Sunday nights, pop ins, the occasional "company" dinner, or out of state relatives who stopped by on their way to Daytona.  Homes were (and still are) the quiet places to have conversations without interruptions by waiters asking, "Are you still working on that?"--which always makes me think of dining as a chore in need of heavy tools.

I love meeting friends at cafes or in their homes or mine, but it takes planning ahead to make home-cooked meals for friends happen.  It takes a lot of juggling of busy schedules. If you stopped by my house unannounced, I would rarely have cake or pie at the ready and I might be taking a nap or not home.

Sometimes I feel nostalgic when I remember my daddy saying to everyone he ran into at the barber shop or the post office, "Y'all come see us!"

I still smile whenever I remember him saying, loud enough for the unannounced guests to hear, "Hide the pie!"--whether there was pie or not.

I get teary when I think of how he met me, or anybody else, at the door and said with a big smile, "Come in this house!" --as if whoever was standing at the door was exactly what the house needed to be even happier.