Random Jamming

Yesterday, I was invited by my old violin teacher to come jam with her. Now, she in the summer is not a music teacher, but co-head of kitchens at the local Christian camp. (Also the biggest camp in state.) Dinners aren't her responsibility, usually, (they belong to another friend of mine and his mum) and so she said that if I wanted to, to come around three and play. There wouldn't be many people around, just one or two kitchen hands, maybe. All the kids would be out on the trails, or by the lake, and all the staff would be spending a few hours relaxing.
I hadn't played in months, so I figured it wouldn't be so bad to start up again with relatively no audience. Minus, of course, my teacher. So I headed over, and found my friend's mother with another girl in the kitchen. Apparently, my teacher had to run into town to buy about a hundred more pounds of butter and sugar.
"Why don't you just go ahead and start playing for us? We'd love to hear you!" Mrs. S. said.
Well... I suppose. It's not like two people are going to be too harsh on me. Neither of them are exactly Julliard grads. So, I brought out the violin and started fiddling. By the time I finished the first reel set, my friend Jed had joined his mum in the kitchen. He persuaded me to play a few sets more; when I'd finished with those, almost the whole staff was sitting around me listening. I guess I'm just used to performing, because I went on and on till Emily, my teacher, arrived.
What was supposed to be a half hour or so of jamming became a little over two hours, with her and I playing canonic sonatas and fiddle pieces. And we had an audience of about forty.
I had an absolute blast performing. Somehow, I realised it. Of course, I've performed all my life, since I was four or so. Stages, nursing homes, schools, anywhere and everywhere. I even wanted to be a piano or violin performance major for years. I love performing. But I like it best in informal settings, where the people just come up to you. When you stop in between pieces and talk to them. When it's okay to start laughing at yourself in the midst of playing.
And definitely when the whole kitchen crew decides to feed you for free in return for over two hours of playing.
Now I find that I may be joining Emily to play at the coffee shop some time soon. Who knows what we'll be playing, or how long that will go? At any rate, I'm plenty up for random jamming.