“Eating, and hospitality in general, is a communion, and any meal worth attending by yourself is improved by the multiples of those with whom it is shared.”
― Jesse Browner
This past Sunday (October 26) was a beautiful day all around. In the morning, of course, Rebekah and I attended worship over at Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church. Later we enjoyed a beautiful cool afternoon where we could almost track the colors beginning to come out in the leaves in real time.
The long dry summer will probably impact our fall brilliance. But, walking around the church perimeter, there is enough of a hint of reds and yellows to make me smile and invite my camera to click.
Hospitality:
Rebekah and I love sharing our home, and it is especially meaningful when we have the opportunity to introduce people to this amazing house for the first time. We got to do just that in the late afternoon and evening when our good friends Resi and Keith Thomas drove over from Lake Royale for dinner.
It was also a play-date for Max and the Thomas’s four-year-old Golden, Emmy. It is so cool to watch two huge (Emmy is around 90 pounds now and Max is 105) Golden Retrievers get The Zoomies together, then lay around just enjoying one another’s company.
Keith and Resi were instantly our friends from the moment they first arrived at our Wake Forest church, and we share the added commonality of the England-America connection. We never knew each other then, but Keith grew up not that far from me, played competitive soccer at a similar level and DJ’d radio stations I likely listened to.
It is good to have people who fit so naturally even when it has been far too long between visits.
Plus there is almost nothing I like better than a long, relaxing, conversational dinner with people we love.
Emmy was so comfortable that when it was time to say goodbye she resisted, stubbornly sitting in our front entry uninterested in getting into her own car. When Resi called Emmy she sighed, looked over at Max, and then lay all the way down!
Just another beautiful day in Tarboro, North Carolina. The formula is simple: Worship in community, enjoy the community where we live, hang around people we love, share hospitality. Oh, and have a great dog like Max!
May all your days be so blessed – DEREK
Your description of Emmy not wanting to leave Max was precious. Just like children. Peace,
[…] the gallery, below – our friend Resi with the two Goldens, Max and Emmy, from Sunday evening (Community and friends we love) and then the memory that popped up from […]