Two Truths and a Lie

You know the game...you must say three things about yourself, but only two must be true, and your company has to guess which is the lie.

I hate games that require lying. I'm just so bad at lying.

So when Hayley and I arrived for dinner at the Sylvia Beach Hotel and were seated at our table, along with Al, Myrna, Joan, Catlin, David, and Patricia, and were encouraged to play this game for the duration of our family-style dinner, I was hesitant about faking something interesting about myself. ("Can't we just have a normal curiosity-driven question-and-answer sort of get-to-know-each-other conversation, like normal people?" I thought.)

But...I totally owned this game; no one guessed my lie!

I said that I have seen, in person, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.

When I was grilled about my statements, I elaborated: I saw Obama when he came to Saddleback Church for a civil forum, I saw George W. Bush being driven down the street right after my school group toured the White House (he actually waved to us), and I nearly (literally) ran into Bill Clinton as I walked into the Ritz Hotel in London.

Do you know which is the lie?

It's the first one. I actually didn't come to the civil forum when Obama was there. I was out of state. But I knew all about it, and just talked about it like I had been there. (Who's going to believe that President Bush waved to us in Washington D.C. right after we toured the White House, anyway? No one!)

The game ended up being a great ice-breaker amongst quite a motley crew of strangers, brought together for one evening by our mutual love of adventure, books, and food. I learned that David paints cherubs on harpsichords (?!), Joan has trained four seeing-eye dogs and lived in Costa Rica for a year, young Catlin ran her own business for two years, elderly Myrna has helped plan over 130 weddings (there was only one time when the groom did not show up), and Al has done reporting in China for the Associated Press. It was a fun dinner full of character study, laughs, and great conversation, not to mention delicious food--lobster bisque, salad, just-baked bread, chicken parmesan with vegetables, and fresh local berries and cream for dessert.

A charming dinner in a charming hotel with a group of charming people I will most likely never see again...it was a memorable night!