Company, coffee and a good fire

Saturday night, Shube's sisters and Grandma Pearl came over. (Molly Pearl is named after her Grandma Pearl so it was special to have them meet.) I always enjoy having company, especially company that I am comfortable with and that I know fairly well. Shube made Caesar salads for dinner with steak and shrimp. Afterwards, we settled down with cups of coffee in the living room. They all held Molly and doted after her. I love moments like these. I think it because of the many evenings that I spent with my parents' friends in our living room. It was always a highlight of our week to have company, sometimes on a Friday or Saturday and often after church on Sunday.

It was a cooler evening so I decided to light a fire in the fire pit. The boys love this, especially Caleb and Matthew. I love it even more than they do. Fires outside also remind me of growing up. Benjamin said to me, "Did you make fires with your dad when you were a little boy?" I told him that I didn't make a lot of fires with my dad, but I made a lot of fires with other people that I loved and that loved me. Most of those fires were out at Ripley Blvd. Baptist/Word or Life summer camp. The people that loved me and that I loved were men and woman like Bill Donovan, Tim Powell, Tim Pollard, Jack Klein, Russ Lewis, Sandy Donovan, Bill Fitch, Donna Pollard. The smell of smoke in my clothes makes me feel like a ten or eleven year old boy listening to "Uncle Jack" pick old gospel songs on his guitar while sitting on a picnic table.

These are some of the things that I value: good friends, good coffee and a good fire.