The Get Together

It was being called the “the” get together. No one was entirely sure why the “the” was being added onto the beginning, but everyone who was going was calling it that. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that they were all leaving in a matter of a few hours. He was going to this state, she was going to this state, he was staying home, he was joining the military, she was going to vanish from existence, whatever they were doing and wherever they were going this was the last time they would sit together.

It was kind of an odd feeling as the plastic containers of food were passed around. Take out, yeah, everyone agreed that take out seemed like a good idea. It was simple, it was easy, and there was no clean up. No clean up, that seemed to be the thing that no one wanted. Take it easy, this was “the” get together after all, no one wanted to make it any more dramatic than it already was. Then there was the location. On the parking lot in the afternoon sunlight. A few people complained of sunburns and being stuck in the hot weather, but in the end everyone agreed that yes, the parking lot would do, the parking lot will work for “the” get together.

They all sat around in circles and ate their food. This was “the” get together, so why was everyone so quiet? They were supposed to be reminiscing about the past with flowery language and declare that friends were indeed forever. Instead everyone sat in the little semi circle, food in their laps, legs crossed for mostly everyone but not everyone, and they ate in complete silence. For a get together that required the word “the” in front of it was turning out to be rather undramatic. No one knew what to say, no one knew what to do, except that the food was supposed to go in their mouths and there was not going to be a clean up at the end.

A few people here and would make eye contact here and there as they ate, maybe even exchange some food filled smiles, but no one said a word. Somehow, “the” get together seemed to be falling apart in front of everyone’s eyes. Planes would be leaving, final arrangements needed to be made, corners to hide in, people to see, things to do, why were they all sitting in a little semi circle in the parking lot eating take out in the summer sun? Huh, the sky is really blue today, the sky is really blue on “the” get together and no one seems to notice. Everyone’s heads are filled with everything else.

Time went by and people began to leave. One person offered to throw everything away, take care of the minimal clean up, so cartons of take out gathered in the middle of the little semi circle. And as the final cartons were thrown away suddenly “the” get together seemed to take entirely new meaning. Yes, this was the last time they would all be together, but no words were needed, Goodbyes were already said, secret I loved you’s declared, and all that remained was simply being in the company of those people they would never see again.

It was being called the “the” get together. No one was entirely sure why the “the” was being added onto the beginning, but everyone who was going was calling it that. Suddenly, the word “the” did not seem like it had enough weight to describe that lunch on the parking with everyone sitting in a semi circle in the hot sun simply enjoying each others presence.