Top Gun Supper Club History and Evening at the Farm

Top Gun is one of our supper clubs. Eight couples of us have been meeting monthly since about April 1990. We got started when we all joined in to host a big party that month. We held the party at an abandoned airport in a big hangar, and we invited about 400 of our closest friends. Our invitations were paper airplanes, and we called it a Top Gun Party because the movie with Tom Cruise was popular at the time. We had someone make us a little Snoopy with Top Gun on his scarf, and he was part of the decoration.

Of course the party was a huge success, and we eight couples had such fun planning it that we decided we would just meet monthly and call ourselves a supper club. Eighteen years later, we still meet. One couple has moved to Destin, but they join us for Christmas and on our trips. That's another story--somewhere along the way we decided that we would take an annual trip together--We call it "Eat Our Way Across Another Great American City" Trip (we are a supper club, after all). We have been to Amelia Island Plantation, Atlanta, New Orleans, Charleston, Chicago, New York, Nashville, Cashiers North Carolina several times, Lake Martin, Vail, Seagrove Florida, and later this year we go to Napa.

We meet at the Country Club most of the time. Again, early on, Snoopy became the supper club mascot, and he is always part of the centerpiece. The host for the next month always takes him home and dresses him to suit the season, theme, or what's happening in our lives. Over the years, Snoopy has morphed into everything imaginable--beach bum in the summer, football star in September, witch in October, Indian or Pilgrim in November, Santa in December. He's come dressed as a baby when some of us welcomed grandchildren; he changed to a bride to celebrate our children's weddings; he wore academic regalia when I got my doctorate. If we had known in the beginning how important he was going to be in our history, we would have taken pictures of him at each meeting. As you see, he was a farmer this night!

It was our turn to host, and since March is usually a good month weatherwise, our friends indicated they would love to meet for a barbecue at the farm, and we agreed that each member couple could invite two people. I covered the tables with antique bedspreads and some sheeting I bought in browns and reds. I used red and white striped napkins and broom sage in old tin buckets with Spanish moss.

So, last night, 24 of us gathered for another fun evening. Two couples arrived with their guests in a white stretch limo. I took a photo, declaring that it was probably the first time a limo has pulled up at the farm. Not so, Elizabeth, our daughter, reminded me today; for one delivered her and her groom there on their wedding night.

Anyway, we had a big time---good barbecue and trimmings, lots of beverages flowing, beautiful weather, and just the right mix of great people.
I would say it was a magical evening, but then we think all our Top Gun meetings are magical.

Top Gun has been such an important part of our lives; I'd like to write more about it--what we've learned, the kind of people we are, the blessing it has been.