Friends Family

Rain was in the forecast today--figures, the day of one of the best fam-jams of the year: The June Bug Party.

This morning, I woke up to help prepare some of the food to be consumed later; no rain.

This afternoon, I met up with some friends to help another celebrate and say goodbye; no rain yet.

This early evening, I curled up on the couch with a book to await our guests and yell to dad to fire up the grill; still no rain.

Dinnertime rolled around and the guests rolled in. Just as the last one was on the patio and dad threw the first piece of meat on grill...the sky opened up and poured.

Of course it couldn't have happened any other way. We were forced to use tents and umbrellas to make sure all the food got cooked. Oh, and mojitos and martinis helped too. And beer; beer helped too.

The best part of today (and of course my camera was MIA all evening) was not the food or the alcohol, it was the family. Sure there were friends there, and I'm not neglecting them, nor trying to say they didn't make my night--as far as I was concerned tonight, they were family (oh, beware the gushing).

My family (especially this side of it) has always been a warm and accepting bunch. If you're a friend of one of us, you're a friend of us all. So, when Sherman, Boo and the Squiggly brothers showed up, not a beat was skipped and all joined in on the family festivities.

Sherman was Sherman and went around helping out in all the ways everyone was used to--setup, tear down, and good company. Being a June Bug herself, Boo got hustled into the big birthday picture, had her own candle on the cake, and even got birthday tidings from Grandma and Uncle. Big G took a turn at the babysitting of Big J (the newest member of the family), helping to devour the foods, and giving a go at ribbing Haike a bit. Squiggly sat down with G-ma and talked to her in only the way that he could, and then even went and braved the storm to give dad a break from the grill.

I love my boos--they are my family as far as I'm concerned.

You ever watch some moments in life where you're there but you're not necessarily participating and you just wish you could capture the moment or expressions in a tiny little box and keep it forever? There were a couple of those moments tonight. Big G and Squiggly with G-ma, Boo being the most surprised birthday girl of them all, Big J falling asleep in my lap. The simplest things in life are the ones I want to hold onto forever.
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The weirdest thing:

I took a nap in the middle of the afternoon yesterday, and had a dream. In it, I was perched on the armrest of a chair that Mr. Charles Basil was sitting in. While never close, he was leaning on my shoulder and playing with the ends my hair--a motion that, from another friend, has always had a "needing comfort" sort of connotation to it. Of course I let him; at that moment I was there for him and wanted to give him whatever support he needed.

My dream ended there as I was woken by my cell phone. I answered it.

"Hey, did you hear about Charlie? He needs us."

And today, we were all there with him; an afternoon of comfort, support, and remembrance. Amidst the condolences, there were many smiles and much more laughter than you would expect. Watching it all, I felt all warm and leaned over to Sherman and whispered,

"I love my friends."

And I do.