Swiss Night

We haven't been to Swiss Night in a long, long time. I'm not even sure that we've been since we married, as our favourite band (S-Bahn) doesn't play there any more. I do know we were there 12 years ago, and once or twice since. 12 years ago. I had only started dating Andrew a month beforehand. There's a photo of us, me in a pink shirt and my old esprit jeans, him smiling and flushed from dancing. both wearing Swiss Night ribbons pinned to our chests, standing in the doorway there. It was different. You could hardly get on the dance floor it was so busy. S-Bahn has a few folk dances they get everyone involved with, so even those of us who don't know how to dance can at least join the winding conga line or a simple round dance. The speeches were a bit long. The outdoor tables were crowded, could hardly get a seat. I was 16. I was a vegetarian, so the one dinner available to us (a giant sausage) was not going to happen. Yeah, I ate that sausage tonight. I had a piece of weisswurst too, veal of all things. Hannah tried a little too, but she was mostly into the tomatoes and pistachios our well-prepared friend brought. Our group danced, and a few older couples, but I didn't understand where everyone else went. It was always a roaring party in the past. Is it just that everyone is 12 years older? What about all the young people, is it because we've all got kids now, and are stuck holding babies or rushing home for bedtime? I was surprised how many kids there were, I didn't expect so many. There were enough for many scavenger hunt teams. Our team made it back first, with the help of my friend's 8 year old leading the charge, so all our children received red swiss hats. Everyone was wearing red. We wore red too. And the lanterns, I'm so glad Hannah could be part of the lantern march. I hope they advertise better next year. Maybe I'll need to post something about it before, instead of after. Funny thing happened, we were just 2 houses down, and our neighbour's tenant was parked in the middle of the road, idling her car. We waited as her boyfriend ran out and jumped in the passenger side, and they drove off ahead of us, winding through the neighbourhood and heading out east toward the farms. Andrew suggested they too were going to Swiss Night, and I figured that'd be too much of a coincidence. No, I told him, surely they're just going for blueberries or a walk along the dike. So we saw them at Swiss Night.