What You Don’t See
When you come to a party at Casa Do Bruce you’ll probably see a lot things: many house projects in various stages of progress, lots of happy people milling about (or getting lost, depending on your perspective), good food, interesting wigs, lively conversation, close friends and a whole lot of mess to clean up later.
What you don’t see usually is 1) the four co-owners in a room together at the same time during the party 2) the hours of preparation it takes to throw a party at Casa Do Bruce (we actually have planning meetings) 3) people left out or ignored 4) and the patience, compassion, and love that creates this specific house.
Last weekend we had a party that was a combo deal: Graduation, dual birthdays, Solstice, and bring your own occasion (any excuse to party!). We had out of town guests, pans of pasta, several different types of dessert (including a cake shaped like a massage table, a gluten-free cake, and some leftover raw tiramisu), BBQ, ping pong, Cornhole (see flickr pictures for this), a fire pit, a keg, a dance hall, and one of the best damn times lots of people have had, at least in a while.
We, the inhabitants of Casa Do Bruce, take pride in celebrations like these. I hope I am speaking for all of us when I say that we don’t just throw a party when we have people over. We provide the space and co-create (it woudn’t be as fun without all of our peeps showin’ up) a moment where we can all appreciate the amazing world we live in. Yes, bad things are happening around the globe. Yes, some (most?) of us feel a bit powerless about that. Yes, not all of us have experience with healthy groups of people. But we come together, even in “distant” Burien (seriously, it’s NOT that far from Seattle!), to look each other in the eye and say, “We can create THIS. We can hug, laugh, argue, joke, dance, cook, eat, kick-ass in cornhole, and that’s all US. We don’t pay taxes for this, we don’t have rules about it, and we can do it as often as we want.”
The morning after I woke up early and I had such a warm feeling. I LOVE this. I love people staying over (voluntarily or not), making breakfast the next day, watching the crazy photos from the night before on our movie screen, and reveling in the fact that there is SO MUCH LOVE in this house. It’s not just a house. It’s who we are. I could die happy. I know some of THE most AMAZING people and I am lucky enough to spend the best years of my life with them. Nothing could be better.
So to all our peeps, thanks for your willing and conscious participation in our lives. You make it all the more awesome.
Oh, and one last thing you don’t see…the goat. But one day you will.