Simple Traditions

     Every family has their own traditions.  Some do Sunday dinner together every week.  Others go on vacations annually.  Even still, others may go to Disney World whenever the newest addition is cute enough to appreciate a picture with Mickey.  My family has some pretty strange traditions.  We always have a seafood boil when my aunt comes to town.  We always feed our guests Puerto Rican food.  But probably the oddest tradition of all is our outdoor parties.
    
     My parents asked me what I wanted for the 8th grade graduation party.  My dream party? A pool party at the local pool.  Me and 40 of my closest friends baking in the Florida sun.  Comparing our belly flop technique.  Eating way too much pizza and cake.  It was perfect.  I still remember it in detail.  For my high school graduation, I wanted something smaller but again, outdoors.  I had my parents decorate the back yard with streamers and giant tissue paper flowers.  I wanted bistro lights zigzagging the entire yard from house to fence.  Most of all I wanted the party of my childhood, a pig roast.  It was the most beautiful thing, the pig I mean.  Yes, the decorations were a teenage dream but the roasted whole suckling pig with an item from the five basic Puerto Rican food groups:  Pork, Rice and gondules, pico de gallo, tostones (fried green plantains for you unfamiliar) and bread was heavenly.

     When it came time for our engagement party the choice was simple.  My future in-laws had just built the house and it sits on almost 3 acres.  Plenty of parking and party space.  We had a garden party under the oaks on the giant lawn.  The garage hadn't been built yet but the concrete slab was there.  Most would have set up tables or food buffet there but not us.  Like good Latinos we used it as a dance floor.  My family put on quite a show for the very "White" locals here.  My husband got dancing lessons from my aunts.  Best of all was the lesson on how to keep your lady in love, provided by my grandfather.  He serenaded my grandmother with his guitar all her favorite spanish love songs.  Although none of my Florida friends understood the words, love is a universal language.

     People around here have come to expect this from us and now they look forward to it.  Everyone always wants roasted pork and rice if we're attending a pot luck dinner.  My husband has learned the secret from the "Master", my grandfather, how to make his signature pico de gallo.  With precision he dices and chops each little piece until the mixture is just right.  He never seems to make enough because the bowl is always empty.  My brother was taught the proper way to season a pork roast the Puerto Rican way.  I was shown how to make the rice by my grandmother who never follows a written recipe.  It's all about the senses.  These are family secrets which we NEVER share.  If by some chance any friend wants the recipe you can be sure we have left out one small but key step or ingredient making replication impossible.

     Our recent outdoor party was what has brought us full circle.  The engagement party for my brother-in-law.  We have since taken over the house and deemed it the party house.  We quickly planned out the details for the suare.  Tents, a band, mexican food because my creamy chicken enchiladas are his favorite and the famous pico de gallo, of course.  We prepared the house and yard for weeks spending untold hundred of dollars on mulch and flowers all in her wedding color, the perfect shade of peach.  I made HUNDREDS of tissue paper flowers to adorn every corner of the yard.  We rented tables and chairs for over 100 guests.  My potting bench became the bar.  I covered the hanging pots on the porch with battery operated twinkle lights.  I strung the porch railing like Mainstreet at Disney World.  I covered every tree in my orchard with white lights.  If I could cover it, it had lights.  My husband got a giant roll of hay and we covered the ground to hide the miles of extension cords.  My diligent husband was out there at 5am roasting the pig over open coals.  The neighbors all stopped to comment on how lovely and inquire about the occasion.  Everyone had a great time.  It was relaxed and country.

     Even though it was the same kind of party with the same family and a lot of the same guests this party was very different from mine.  The house is different, the garage is built.  Most of my family is gone now.  The aunt who gave my husband dancing lessons and both my grandparents were claimed by cancer.  Noone danced.  Well, I did but my partner wasn't very good.  It was a happy occasion but for me there was a twinge of sadness.  I kept busy most of the night and was glad with the outcome but it reminded me that you have to cherish the good times when you have them because in the end you can never get them back.  Try as you may those are once in a lifetime moments never to be repeated.

I found a sign while out shopping one day with my mom that I thought was perfect.  It always keeps that lesson fresh in my mind as it hangs proudly over my front door.  It's time for me and my husband to carry on but also form our own "Simple Traditions".