A Spring of Joy

As I write this, it is Saturday morning, and I hear banging and sawing and the noise of demolition on the floor below me. In April we tore the floor up in our downstairs bathroom with the plan to just put new floors in. Instead we found rotting boards and part of a wall with soft wood because, unknown to us, our shower had been leaking. New shower needed. New wall needed. New floor needed. This was no small task. We decided that we’d just do a complete bathroom overhaul which included redoing our library nook connected to the other side of the bathroom… but when? How? With our crazy life?

Over the summer we boxed up books and emptied cabinets to prepare, and this morning we started. Or rather Bri started. I hear him now with two buddies from our church home group, ripping out paneling and sledge hammering holes and grunting and yelling with manly shouts.

But what I hear above all of that is the laughter. They are thoroughly enjoying time together.

Laughter.

Friendship.

Last night, we went to dinner at our friends’ home. It was a spur of the moment afternoon invitation… if Ang is feeling up to it, come on out and we’ll make pizza together. I figured I could sit with the comfort of friends and feel rough, or I could sit in the comfort of my home and feel rough. So we chose our friends, and it couldn’t have been a better choice.

We feasted on a variety of cheeses and veggie appetizers and caught up on life, little girls playing upstairs, older kids sitting with us and joining in conversation. Bri brought along his pizza stone and the guys cooked some pizzas outside while Amy and I baked a few inside and then we ate some more. After our late supper, we went outside, curled under Woolrich blankets and entangled ourselves in our spouses’ arms to sit by the fire while the kids played card games inside. We reminisced about life together before kids and adventures we had lived together. We shared stories of vacations and churches and business and family and just… life. And we laughed. Oh, how we laughed… long and hard.

Far past my “chemo” bedtime, I leaned over to Bri and mentioned we should be going home to which Amy responded, “But we haven’t had dessert yet.” So we unfolded ourselves from the warmth of each other and the patio and returned indoors to cheesecakes and red velvet cake rolls. Savoring every bite, we mentioned how this needs to happen more often. We just need to get together with our friends. No phones. No agendas.

Just love…

…and friendship…

…and laughter.

“She thought of Joseph and how love can start with something as simple as the gift of a peanut.

She thought of Cornelius and Lafayette, and as she offered a berry to Violet, she thought how good it was to have friends.”
(~Henry Cole, A Nest for Celeste)