we gathered....

we need to be clear,
this wasn't the meet up of the waltons.
this is quite a crew.
there're reasons we all haven't gathered together in awhile.
it's been a winding, hard, exhausting, gritty climb.
and yeah, mixed in has been some pretty good stuff too.
which is why the gathering could happen.

we gathered at our meet up place.

this is the place we've met for everything over years and years.
where a whole lotta life talks have happened.
there's been good talks, and really really hard talks.
talks where i've left wondering if we can hold everyone
together, and really doubting it at times. and talks where
we've all left laughing and carrying on and feeling great.

it's been the landing spot.
when someone's outta town and landing back in, we gather
there and tell stories. when there's only time for a quick hello,
we land there. when it's time for some laughter and hangin'
out, we land there.

it truly is a place of our family.

and so.....last nite, we landed there.
scooting two tables together outside, we gathered.
right away there was laughing and teasing.

i noticed the man with the laptop at a table really close.
poor man, i thought. he's not going to last long.
turns out he stayed at his place the whole time. which made
me smile. i would have too. it would have been quite a gathering
to sit next to.

he's actually the reason i didn't throw water on zakk at one point.
if zakk ducked, it woulda landed on the man's laptop. he kept
zakk dry.

it's all male.
and the testosterone is amazing.
sometimes it just kinda makes my eyes get big.
i don't think anyone's under six feet tall, except me.
i don't know for sure as zakk and josh are the shortest of the
group, and they refuse to measure themselves because then one of
them will have to claim the title 'shortest' and well...that just
can't be. and so the actual shortest height is unknown.

noah still claims tallest. but we weren't there thirty seconds
before that was being questioned and dean's back was right up against
noah's testing it out.

no question about it, dean could claim most muscular. and he was
basking in the glory of his biceps. i was teasing my guys about it.
which is probably why dean got elected to be 'flower girl' at the wedding.
his brother turned to me to describe the pink outfit dean should wear,
one that would reveal his strong arms but would also include the tutu
kinda thing.

we toasted us and the engagement, and we toasted multiple things goin'
on in the guys' lives. i egged the smitten one on to tell us about his
girl, and we all goofed about how smitten he was. there was catchin' up
on lives, and hearin' news from each other.

and for the amount of testosterone there, i gotta say, there was some
pretty decent ring appreciation. all the guys seemed tickled with it.

there was teasing, rivalry, sincerity, kindness, and a lot of goodness.
that goodness amazed me. it's almost a miracle it's there.
this group is special. to hold on to what was there thru some of the stuff
we've been thru....well......i think it takes a pretty cool group to do
that. and i sat there looking at each of them really tickled we were all
together.

as we headed to the cars, bob and i fell back behind the guys.
and we looked at these big beasts in the parking lot.
i heard them joking and callin' each other 'bro.'

they're huge. and strong. and young. and just beginning.
and i can guarantee you the struggles aren't over.
but last nite i could see where we'd been and i could see where
we were, and i knew we'd go wherever we had to.
and i could see that it was changing.
all that energy put into raising them....it was changing.
and it's coming into our time. our time for us to be a couple.
it's been a long time coming.
a really really long time.
and it's been worth it.