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As you move through different phases of life, you accumulate varied sets of friends. Your interactions with them can take different forms.

Some of my sets favor the dinner party as a format for this. I find them very enjoyable, if not done as a steady diet. It seems like one comes up about every other week and that’s a bit much for me.

In this case, the occasion was Ann and Don’s new house, with the added bonus that the party would include Pam and Tom, who are wonderful people. I was intrigued by the project. They bought a large old house near Covington Kentucky’s riverfront and totally renovated it, moving walls, adding an elevator, etc. Hardly a brick left unturned. More than I would’ve taken on at this stage of life, so I was fascinated.

It was a very pleasurable evening and the house exceeded expectations. I was contemplating it on the way home when my companion interrupted my reverie. “I saw your eyes pop when he said the granite countertops cost $18,000. I know what you were thinking.”

“That’s some expensive rock.”

“No, you were thinking that’s eighteen kayaks.”

“Twenty-five.” How did she know?