Last Saturday at 11 a.m., Paul and I went to pick up our annual Holiday dinner at the Grey Bears' campus on the other end of Chanticleer.
Compared with the same event two years ago, this year's dinner was not well organized. The location was changed twice, from the Grey Bears lot to the Drive-In and Flea Market lot, and then back to the Bears lot. As a last minute measure, they staffed a Grey Bear volunteer to stand at the gate of the Drive-In to inform and redirect cars, but the wet Bear was either ignored, or all but mowed down by anxious drivers. As a Bear though, he was not easily intimidated, standing firm and tall, repeating the same instruction to every approaching car. Wish he could have had a loudspeaker with a recorded message!
Paul managed to make the earliest U-turn possible, against the convoluted given directions. But once at the destination, we were confronted with cars from every directions all heading toward the same lot. Once in the lot, we saw people on foot dashing around in the rain to do their shopping too, for there was a half-price sale going on in a number of the Bear stores. Driving further to the end of the lot, we found ourselves jammed into a small alley, with lines of waiting cars packed three abreast. Two cars at a time from each line were allowed to go forward to the food facility.
A heavily fortified group of Grey Bears greeted us in front of the facility door. In due time, we received our 2022 holiday dinner trays, after our names were checked out by a frail mama Bear who was working furiously through a thick stack of name sheets from A to Z. We thanked them and drove away quickly to let the next car come forward. I could not help but wonder if other Bears could share some sheets from her, with perhaps a few alphabetical lists.
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We smiled at each other, feeling at once grateful and generously understanding. We got our holiday meals slowly but surely. More often than not, it is easier to work with one system, such as 2020's dinner that was delivered smoothly with military precision during the Covid-19 time. Two years later, we have transitioned to a hybrid time that will inevitably give rise to confusion and inconsistency. When there are too many chiefs in a tiny kitchen, engaged in many projects simultaneously, it will inevitably create a difficult situation, throwing a monkey wrench into the system. The long-waited rain delighted but dismayed many people in Santa Cruz at the same time.
