one heck of a crowd.

the visit ended with dinner at josh's house.

patty and i had our first alone time in the car on
the way over. driving there she told me the story
that i needed to hear. the story that was something
i could hold on to.

she told me the story of a little girl who was one of
her first cases when she got to africa. and how torn
up patty was over the case and then, months later,
she bumped into the little girl at a party and she
was so bright and shining that patty didn't even recognize
her at first.

she told the story with wonderful detail and feeling
and just as we were turning into josh's driveway,
she said 'they raped her body, but they didn't rape
her soul.'

i teared up, breathed that in, and parked the car.
i needed that story.

timing it like pros, we all landed there
within minutes of each other. meeting bob in the
driveway, we headed in.
the guys landed right after us and they
wandered in, food in hand. josh had another
friend there, and there was a lot of hub bub
all at once. meeting each other, hugging each
other, and juggling food.

i grabbed josh's friend, sat with her on the couch
and started immediately telling her the story patty
just told me! nothing like leaping right in. but
it was such a good story....i wanted to share....

there was chatter and brainstorming and stories
and incredibly serious talk mixed in with laughter.

sitting across from patty at one point i looked
over at her wrapped in her beautiful orange shawl
bent over laughing. my heart clapped with delight.

driving her back when it was all over, she mentioned
the laughter, commenting on how we knew how to laugh.

yeah....we do.
we can laugh with the best of 'em....we can hurt with
her stories...we can brainstorm how to help...we mix
it all up together and you get this really goofy mix
of a group.

what a nite.
i got to spend it with patty and the crew....
and the spirits of those women and kids in africa
were so mixed in thru it all......

there was a crowd in that house last nite. some just
there in spirit, but they were there.

and it was one heck of a crowd.