Set Another Plate

You are planning the dinner party of your dreams and there are eight chairs.  You can invite seven other people (anyone still alive).  Who will fill the chairs and what will make this dinner interesting? 

This has been one of my favorite questions of all time.  I have shared it with many people, and I actually hope when I post this, you will share your guest list with me.  I find the answers fascinating. I spent weeks on this list, where others knew right away.  I had a very different list when we changed the question to include anyone at all-passed or alive.  But alas, the question stands - anyone alive, eight chairs, one is for you.  Who's in the room filling those seats?

Oddly, I went straight to a celebrity list.  People I would love to have a conversation and listen to their stories.  I don't know why they are known people.  I can't really explain it.  Maybe I should have more than one list? This would be my perfect celebrity dinner party:

Tom Hanks
Barak and Michelle Obama
Elizabeth Gilbert
Helen Mirnan
Gordon Ramsay
Bindi Irwin

I'll be honest, the celebrity list didn't turn out as I expected.  I surprised even myself.  Tom Hanks at the table...can you even imagine?

But as I sit here and ponder the dinner party of my dreams, it seems very different to me today.  There is candle light, and big windows.  There is a sun setting over the water from whatever stone building I happen to be in on the edge of it all.  There is good food... my God is there good food.  There is laughter, and stories and experience and tales.  There is peace, and elation of being among people I adore so much.  Eight chairs, in this case, wouldn't be enough.  There would be family, and friends, and family and friends of family and friends.  And when you have such an abundance of greatness, you build a longer table, and set another plate.








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