Church Family

I suddenly realize, I don't hear the women talking upstairs anymore. I lower the headphones just to be sure, and they have in fact left. The Thirty One party was over long ago, but my wife and Karen and Kim, stayed upstairs and talked, and talked and talked. My headphones are loud enough I am accused of shouting when I where them, but they have not been loud enough to drown out their laughter. Laughter which, in it's absence means my wife will be down shortly, asking if I am ready for bed.

Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes pass and there is no call to bed. I tell Steve, who I have been playing Minecraft and talking about Orcs in the Boardroom with, to hold on, while I go investigate.

I climb the stairs listening. I hear muffled voices from the front of the house. I walk to the front and look with a face that questions why they would get up from the kitchen to keep talking in the front yard. They wave, not understanding or caring about my quandary. I playfully close the door, but I get it. This is family you don't want to say good bye to.

Shana and Anthony's wedding was great, but not in the way you might be thinking. It was hilarious the way Ryan crossed the reception hall, in the first few notes of YMCA, then proceeded to give his whole body over to the music, every beat giving him a new convulsion or arm posture, but this is not what made it great. The ham cooked in pineapple and cherries, beside the perfectly boasted chicken, was fantastic and only helped a meal I started with chocolate truffles and ended in cake, but this was not what made the wedding great.

At my table was my wife and kids and my mom, all my family of course, but my family didn't stop there. At the next table over are Jeff, Jim and Josh with their wives. The bride and groom have grown up with us, Their parents, Jim and Sheila and Ralph I can see at the table beside the head table. At a table behind me are Tim and Drew and their parents, Rose and Les. In the corner are the Noble girls and Josh T and Nathan. His mom, Eileen, will drag him, begrudgingly to the photo booth later on in the night. All of them and more, are family.

When I look table to table, I don't just see people I know, but people I love, people I will spend eternity with, people who are, like me, children of God. These, all of them, are my brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. This is the reason I tease, but understand my wife and Kim not wanting to end the conversation. This is the reason the wedding was great. It wasn't just a celebration for the bride and groom, but a celebration of God and good of an extended family he gives us.