At Andreas’s birthday party last January, one of our Varnero neighbors brought up how much she loves the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Did we have a copy of it? Yes. Could she come over some time and watch it on our giant TV? Yes. Can some more of our neighbors come too, because it’s such a great movie and everyone should see it? Of course. We could even ask all our housekeepers to make popcorn and pretend we were at a real theater.
We planned our little get-together for that Wednesday night. But then someone got the flu. And the next Wednesday someone else was at a conference in Rome. Then the next week the stepdown converter blew and we couldn’t use the TV until we replaced the fuse.
One Wednesday we hosted some new hires for dinner and didn’t want to scare them away with our eccentric Varneran ways. There was a Week without Walls trip to chaperone, and then there was food poisoning, then grades were due, then it was spring break, then some of the Varnerans were in a car accident (they were OK, but their necks were too sore to sit through a movie).
Why did it have to be a Wednesday? No idea.
The school year ended, we all left the country for vacation, and when we got back we didn’t even live in Varnero any more. And then the TV blew up and we had to abandon all hope for a movie night.
But finally, now that Andreas has had another birthday, the planets were in alignment and last night we had not a movie night but a great big Greek party with dolmas and souvlaki and retsina and baklava and fifty of our closest friends.
Also my favorite live band, the Urban Hyenas!
Lorna of Arabia 
Lorna, you and Andreas are social geniuses! I do believe you could be air-dropped into one of those deserted Antarctic valleys, where even penguins dare not go, and give sufficient stocks of baklava and retsina, you would soon be dancing with fifty more “closest friends.”
Penguins are great dancers! Or so I gather from the movies. I’ll bet Andreas could teach them the hasapiko.