Jun
2015
For as long as I can remember my family has always been very open, welcoming and extremely amicable. No matter where we have lived as a family or even when we haven’t been together as individuals, we always seem to carry that banner of behalf of every other member. You can be assured that no matter where we might be, we will host gatherings for our family, friends, colleagues and/or acquaintances at least once a month. More often than not, they are completely planned and prepared for; however, sometimes something a simple and straightforward my friends’ parents picking them up, or someone dropping off clothes, food or work documents or someone we know passing by while we are standing outside and deciding to park and greet us, could easily turn into an unplanned shindig. We could go from three to five to ten guests in no time at all, and we didn’t live in a house nearly the size of the properties for sale in The Ridge Estate, so you can only imagine what kind of delightful mayhem might have ensued.
I am sincerely not exaggerating when I claim that it has been that way everywhere we have ever lived. When we lived in an apartment complex called Chestnut Hill Apartments on the most northwestern fringes of Philadelphia, we would often have my mother and uncles old friends, classmates and new colleagues around to sample some unique South African based cuisine and music. The space was not particularly accommodating, but the people invited absolutely were and the exchange of love, laughter and good conversation made you forget that you’re in a room designed to comfortably hold fifteen people, with twenty-nine others. Again, one of the countless amazing things about the Ridge is that you are unlikely to ever encounter that problem.
We moved to a row house in a neighborhood called West Oak Lane – where we felt most at home and made very many friendships and connections with many of our beloved neighbors. This only encouraged my parental unit to host more and more gatherings and get-togethers since no one had to even get in their car to attend. The number of visitors and the magnitude of the engagement could transform in a blink of an eye, snowballing to a staggering number, leading to a rather rambunctious occasion. We loved it. Ms Yvette, Mr Charles, Mr Cool Kat (that is literally what we called him; he was the coolest guy in ever and he was around fifty years old) would come over and bring friends, then my sister and I would invite ours, and so on and so forth, until before you knew it, there were three different parties and types of crowds before the evening was over.
The only thing I did not enjoy about these fun little parties was the not so unnoticeable mess that would naturally accumulate from people eating, drinking and altogether making themselves at home – something we passionately encouraged. Unfortunately, it would often come down to my sister and I having to tidy up and wash the consequent dishes. By the way, we were cleaning up after adults, albeit extremely youthful and exuberant ones. It was difficult to imagine what it might have been like if they were children.
You might be familiar with that – hosting a party or a gathering that involves the attendance of many little balls of energy whose elevated sugar consumption does not make supervising them any easier. The planning, clean up and supervising must have been quite the challenge. Well if you live in one of the houses in The Ridge Estate, you will be adjacent a venue called Party Plot. Few names are more self-explanatory. The Party Plot is a venue designed to host the events we all love to have but not clean up after or even prepare. With jungle gyms, trampolines, jumping castles, a toddler room and disco room, there are not many places that can satisfy little people party needs and wants more wholesomely.
If you're like my family and love to host, you can at least do that here without trashing your rather expensive and painstakingly designed abode!
