Opa!

For Salt Lake's Greek community, the Festival is the most stressful, chaotic and time-consuming event of the year. The women (and an odd guy or two) start cooking 4 months before hand. The lines for food snake out along the streets. The dancers' feet ache for weeks afterward.

But the Greek Festival is also the most enjoyable event of the year. It gives our community a chance to let the rest of the city know what they're missing by not being one of us.  It's a testament of our strength as a community, and a very tangible reminder of the sense of belonging we have.

Since returning to Salt Lake, I've always worked the food line. Either as a runner - jetting off to fetch more of this or that for the servers - or serving the food. It's a lot of fun, actually. I especially enjoy serving since it gives me an opportunity to interact with people.

This year, the Greek Festival was all the more enjoyable for me because Gus got to volunteer with me. His two jobs were to keep the soda drinks filled, and the salads dressed. (Amusingly, my sister got a salad he'd missed!)  He had a ball. He never tired and after a 5-hour shift was ready to keep going.

I am so proud of the way he carried himself. And I am so touched how he has embraced this community - my community, our community - and proudly counts himself among its members.

 Taking a break for even more sugar - that box of three sweets cost me $9.75!