Happy to Share

Patrick and I were supposed to have a date night on Wednesday night (and by date night I mean a "we are trying to save to go to Australia so we'll cook at home just make something a little fancier and eat at the table...oh and maybe go to Starbucks afterward" sorta date night) since he was leaving me on Thursday to go to Indiana.

I made lasagna because that's his favorite.

Five minutes before we are supposed to eat, Patrick answers his cell phone. I hear him laughing and talking really excitedly to someone on the other end. "You didn't have to do that! Oh my gosh!" I kept hearing him say. Apparently he had lost his credit card at work that day (and didn't tell me). His wonderful co-worker and friend, Mike, had gone out to the dumpster and gone through all the trash to try to find it. What a man! Patrick couldn't believe that someone would care enough to do that. He himself certainly didn't do any dumpster diving looking for the thing!

So Patrick invited Mike to dinner. Mike doesn't live here. He's actually a consultant for Patrick's company and many other companies. He comes and goes. He travels a lot. His home is in Florida, but he hasn't been there in months. Have you seen Up in the Air?? That kind of traveling. So Mike was thrilled to have a real homemade dinner with real people at a real table. He immediately accepted the invitation. Patrick got off the phone and was afraid I would be mad that he had invited an impromptu guest for our supposed date night. I was thrilled!! I shoved the lasagna back into the oven and set it on "keep warm" until he could get here, dumped some bagged salad into a nice pretty bowl, and put out another place setting. We also happened to have cupcakes because I was making them for the cheerleading squad and had extras!

God calls us to practice hospitality, and I love opportunities to open our home. They don't come often enough. And it was wonderful to sit around the table and chat. Patrick and I made it to Starbucks later and did have some "date" time. But we wouldn't have traded dinner with Mike for the world.

(Incidentally, Mike is a runner and is the one heading up this "marathon" we are supposed to all be partcipating in in April. He is running the 12 mile up-hill portion while the rest of us get 4 mile stretches on the flat ground. I did threaten his life and tell him that if he breaks a leg dumpster diving for my husband we are all in trouble. Don't do that ever again!)