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09/17/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

Silver and Gold

You need to have been a Brownie back in the day to remember this simple song – “Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.” Last night what I would call a group of relatively new friends threw a little before-birthday party for me. There were 10 of us gathered in our clubhouse for a dinner cooked by our resident-condo-chef, Scot. He had been up since 6 AM starting a very slow roasted brisket. He made twice baked potatoes, homemade rolls, and baked beans. Jan provided a broccoli slaw dish and birthday cupcakes. I wore a Happy Birthday rainbow colored tiara for the occasion.

Scot is one of the most generous, kind men I know. I’ve seen the little kitchen in his condo and it is equipped with everything that a chef would want, including a fabulous row of copper pots hanging for all to see. He loves to cook. He is very modest about his talents with food, but when he lays out a spread it could be featured in a gourmet cooking magazine. 

This is the second birthday bash we have had. When Jan’s birthday arrived in August, Scot and Jane, another wonderful friend, arranged a surprise party for her. That epicurean episode featured Scot’s lasagna. Jan was genuinely surprised and pleased. No one has ever thrown her a surprise party. As she entered the clubhouse, our very big and manly board president, Chris, jumped out of a closet at her wearing the rainbow colored birthday tiara. That alone was worth the price of admission.

This crew of people, our neighbors, sat at the table laughing and eating the best brisket I have ever had. I looked around at the others, realizing that in one way we are all united in great part because of the bad behavior of some of the residents in the association. It’s an odd way to form a friendship, but each person has a horror story involving the neighbors from hell. 

Some of the stories spilled out. One involves the fire that happened right above our condo and ruined our concrete patio. Mr. and Mrs. Upstairs-from-us are refusing any responsibility for a fire that took out their non-code-material wooden deck and stained our concrete patio so much that a new one has to be poured. Both of them are sloppy smokers, so there’s little doubt about the origin of the fire. If Mr. Upstairs had gotten a permit when he replaced the deck last year, he would have had to install fire retardant wood that would not have burned the way this wood did. It’s been over a month since the fire and all he does is claim innocence.

Another rather Peyton Place type story involves a prostitute who lived with one of the male residents. As the story unfolded, it involved an inordinate amount of glitter that the hooker would spread around the clubhouse while she performed various carnal acts with her customers in the wee hours of the morning. Eventually she was discovered, the police came and she fled the condo and the state, leaving all her belongings behind. We have also had our fair share of inebriated people behaving loudly by yelling at both buildings from the breezeway, or quietly passed out at the edge of the pool. 

Our friend, Jane, who is the instigator of party time, had to miss the celebration because she came down with the flu. She was taken a plate of food and a cupcake. We facetimed her and each person at the table greeted her image on the phone. Again, I watched each person and marveled at such a diverse group forming a friendship chain. 

This celebration came at just the right time for me. I am about to take off on a two week pilgrimage, at a time when my workplace is beyond busy and a bit problematic. Monday and yesterday were days when I was doing battle with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, as well as the Customs and Border Protection agency. I got absolutely nowhere with either one, not uncommon, but very frustrating. A couple of my clients’ futures are literally hanging in the balance, waiting for answers from these agencies. 

So to have a funny and entertaining get together was just what the doctor would have ordered, had I asked him.