1.
Because it means at least once a year we have a chance to see and patter with some of our most favorite people on earth. People we work with, have worked with, grew up with, encountered and were improved by, admired, loved ... you know, people you really can't live without.
This was a good one. About 80% of those we NEED to see showed up (miss you, Nicole & Lar, Barbara & Tom AND friends Jim & Trish, Canadians, Australians):
Carol (birthday girl); Doris (guru and Gamm Theatre-mate); neighbors-near Jessica & Bart; neighbors even nearer, Kim and Steve; our long-lost bueno puppies, Greg and Laura; Jill and Ed; Barb and Peter, very good mixers; Marcia and her orbiting masterpieces, Hannah and Sophia; and the PERENNIAL PILLARS (thank gawd!): Paula and Al. Jim and Lisa. Jan and Bob. Claire and Pam. Terry and Connie. Jon and Gayle. Bruce Tillinghast. Newbiedoobiedos: Ashley and Amy.
There should be a Halloween party for couples. One comes as salt, the other as pepper.
2.
We clean the garage because we use the space for the party. Last year, escaping the rain. This year, for the iconic Raffle of Nonsense.
So, once a year in our two-car garage, we stage a live-action show called Spider-aggeddon. We love spiders. We admire spiders. We appreciate spiders for their super-abundant pest-control capabilities. And once a year we remove most of them from the garage. We sweep up webs. We go into corners. We remove spiders that have colonized our bicycles; sarcasm soon follows.
3.
It's ours. A party's a nice way to love someone else: assemble the energies.