French bread, Italian wine, Irish butter, Armenian cheese, Swedish chocolate: everyone brought something from somewhere they love to the picnic of the world. We laid down a patchwork of rugs and vintage quilts, faded and pilled and perfect for this bacchanal. The music - Latin - is huge like a landscape. The sky is a bowl turned upside down, showering us with stars. We dressed up, too, all the guys and dolls in tuxedos and silks, everyone moving over each other to eat and drink in a rhythm like bright beads in a kaleidoscope. The music swells under the moon, and everyone feels a tide within them, a rushing in their ears, a sweet ache in our chests as we open our mouths, and sing.

Handmade in the USA