Arabian Nights

Shana's cruising through her final year with Workshop.

 

Every summer before the last week of programs, the ninety or so Peer Leaders get together for a formal night. It's a big deal. They alternate party planning between the boys and girls. This year the boys are in charge.

 The theme is Arabian Nights and Shana and some friends headed to the mall yesterday to buy up all of the gold chains they could find. The dinners are always held at a super secret location, preceded by a scavenger-like hunt for an hour or so before gathering up enough clues to find it. They go all out, too. They rent tables, they cater the food (unless some adventerous mom volunteers) they send out fancy invites (or, more recently, tech-friendly elaborate Evites), they even plan gifts for the guests, with everybody getting something special, meaningful, something with feeling in it and gratitude since, you know, it is Workshop. It's a good lesson. A good boy-girl lesson. A lesson in respect and honor. These kids have grown up together and have seen and heard every dream and fear and goal for years. They know almost everything there is to know about each other. There's not much of a "dating" atmosphere, either. Early on it's frowned upon, even prohibited some years, but later, the kids are so much like siblings, it's rarely an issue, so it's just a bunch of old friends, friends that will remember these Arabian Nights, this magic carpet ride, for years to come.