Guess Who Came To Dinner?

Yesterday afternoon, there was a knock on my front door. This is unusual, because everyone who knows us knows to come to the back door. We are not formal front entry people. The only ones who knock on the front door are sales people and the utility guys. So when I glimpsed a shortish, youngish man through the front door window, I braced myself for politely but firmly declining whatever he was selling.

Instead, I opened the door and found this person:

Holy cow! There was a Jacob Huyck on my front porch! I squealed (yes, I did) and gave him a huge hug. Jacob and I haven't seen each other in almost twelve years...or five children, depending on how you measure the passage of time. He and I were the best of friends all the way up until he left on a mission and I got married. I mean, we were still friends, but we didn't hang out, and then time went on and life got busy. I had children, he got married, they had twins, he graduated from college, I had more children, they had more children, they moved to Florida... you get the idea. But we keep in touch. And he's friends with my husband, and I really like his wife.

So when their summer vacation route was re-routed - the only thing for which I can thank the Missouri river flooding - right past my town, they stopped in.

It was great!. Their five kids got to run wild and free for a couple of hours after being in the van all day, we got to talk and catch up and tell old jokes. Mark ordered pizza so I wasn't stuck in the kitchen preparing dinner instead of visiting in the living room. More running and freedom. Part of me was tempted to panic and feel all self-conscious because my house is really neglected (perhaps I am on an extended stay-cation?). As I invited them all in, I said to Melinda, "I would apologize for the house, but I have seven kids, so I don't have to apologize." She smiled. As the mother of four rowdy boys and one toddler girl, I am pretty sure she "gets" neglected house syndrome. And Jacob doesn't care. He's a guy, and he came from a big homeschooled family, too.

It was so incredibly nice to see them, and meet their kids - yes, it's been that long - and just, well, visit. And already my little brain is scheming on how to go visit Florida and hang out with Huycks again.