BEING THERE. I had a really good time the other night, and have not written about it. The College Daughter came through town and spent the night. She was, unfortunately, on the way home from a funeral. Nonetheless, she was home for the first time in several weeks and I was grateful for the opportunity.

A friend from school met her at our house and we all had dinner and lots of fun. I don't have a nick name for this friend at this point. You have to love him, however. In addition to being a great guy, he brought me two, count them, two bags of coffee from his trip to Costa Rica.

Opera Boy was there, also, having come by to mow my yard again. God's grace is abundant! We asked him to stay for dinner, also. He needles the College Daughter a bit, but I think it was all ok. The Baby was there, having just returned from her trip. We all sat around the dining table. The Little Woman cooked a big meal. It was wonderful.

We then made the ritual trip to Starbucks and introduced everyone in our group to all our friends working at Starbucks.

I wish we could do it all more often. As the weeks blow by and we all attend to our business, it is harder and harder to connect, especially in person. Yet, I find my heart yearns for it. I could change the words to the old Neal Sedaka song to "growing up is hard to do". It is so, both for the grower, and the growee.