Tradition

Justin Hargrove, Keenan McCollum, Ross Chris & Jeff Newman – Shindigs at the Newman’s

Why it is so? I do not know. But my house has always been the hangout place for all my friends. Normally, friends will migrate between houses, but in our situation, the hangout place is always my house. We call our hangout’s shindigs. Why is this significant? For starters, whenever I tell anyone that is not a part of my group of friends that I had a shindig last weekend. They have no clue what I am talking about. I must enlighten them of the connotation of the word “shindig” before they realize that it is just a word that we give to our chill sessions.

The shindigs at my house are never the same either. They are always changing to whatever we happen to feel like doing at the time. Sometimes we play poker or other fun card games. Other times we play ping pong or ride scooters and skateboards. And sometimes we just decide to sit inside and play video games or relax in the Jacuzzi. Since I have gone off to college I do not get to see my friends from high school as much as I used to. Justin and Keenan always tell me to make sure that I have a shindig whenever I am home. It brings back the memories that we had as high school kids. Even though I am no longer living at home full-time, there is some hope to keep the Newman shindig legacy alive. And that hope lies in my little brother Ross Chris. I’ve recently heard that while I have been gone my brother has hosted some of his own shindigs with my friends who still are in high school. Knowing this brought a smile to my face, because I love knowing that even when I am not there, shindigs will forever be linked with the Newman house.

The word shindig is defined as “A large or festive party or celebration.” That is ironic because we have never considered our get-togethers that. And they have never been large or that festive. It is only a small group of good friends who like each other’s company and have similar interests. I asked Keenan what he thought about this, and he replied, “I never thought that deep into it. When I hear shindig, I immediately think Newman’s house.” I asked Justin the same question and he replied similarly. He said, “All I think about when I hear shindig, is the awesome food you always have for me which I get your house.”

Summing up, shindigs are merely the way we all get to see each other again. They never are too big, but they are very precious to every member of the group who gets to experience them. We are devoted on keeping this tradition alive past our adolescent years and into adulthood.