friends

It was a delightful week of fun with friends. One of my closest friends who I lived with before marrying Josh came to stay with me with her family. We had a great time talking, playing with the kids, and catching up. We also had a fun girls' night with our college friends and then a get together with all out college  friends and their families. Each Christmas Josh and I would host the elf party at our house with all our college friends and then in the summer when friends would come into town we would host a summer get together. Both Josh and I LOVED hosting and we worked well together as a team. I was in charge of getting the house ready, clean up and organization. He was in charge of whatever meat dish he desired to grill or smoke. It was definitely his specialty and his favorite part. At the elf party December he had decided to smoke a pork butt for pulled pork sandwiches after he got a stellar deal at Meijer. He had bought two because of how great a deal it was. It seemed only fitting that we use the second pork butt he had purchased at Christmas for the next gathering. I'm pretty sure in his mind he was planning to make it for a Super Bowl party but a summer IV gathering seems like a perfect place now to use it. He had even made a triple batch of his seasoning and we were able to use that too. The food, the friends, the kids, and birthday surprise all brought joy to my heart, so it took me completely off guard at how hard certain moments really were.  We went to pray for the meal and I almost burst into tears at the hole in the room. I wasn't prepared for the sharp pain it brought. Later I walked out back and took one glance at the men gathered around on the patio laughing and talking and had to turn back inside because the scene was so achingly familiar except Josh should have been standing right there at the grill with them.  He wasn't there. How the heartache that can come in an instant. It will always amaze me how a day can bring both overwhelming joy in being reunited with dear friends and a bittersweet ache of things lost.

Two are better than one,  because they have a good return for their work; If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! - Ecclesiastes's 4:9-10