Company for Supper

As we drove out of the church parking lot last night Keith suddenly asked me, “Do you want to invite the Mathews over for supper?” All of the older children were heading over to David’s (a young single guy in the church) for the evening and Keith thought we adults could enjoy playing a game while our younger ones played together. Sounded simple enough.

We did a U turn in our 15 passenger van on the city street, nearly taking out a pedestrian and a light pole, and neared the church building in time to see Marty and Kelly pulling out of the lot. We followed their van honking and flashing our lights. If Keith was a serious driver at all times this would have alerted them that something unusual was afoot. However, his playful side is too often revealed behind the wheel and the van in front of us simply joined in the fun by flashing lights and braking randomly. We figured we could catch them on the 45 mph 2-lane highway leading out of town. As we tried to pull up alongside them they sped up, no doubt thinking that a mock drag race was on. We finally succeeded in overtaking them, got both windows rolled down, and while we flew down the road I screamed, “YOU WANNA COME OVER?” They began to conference the decision and knowing our time was running out (we had to turn) I added, “WE’RE STOPPING AT THE BANK! MEET US AT THE HOUSE IF YOU WANT!” and we turned back to town.

Fifteen minutes later we pulled into our driveway to see they’d accepted our offer. Apparently, the young people all had their cell phones in high gear altering their plans and decided to move their gathering to our house as well. We ended up with us 4 old folks (the parents), 8 young adults/college students, 8 high school students, and 9 early and preteens. A quiet game night turned into a group of 29 and we had a ball. I served our usual Sunday night meal of popcorn, added carrots and cookies, and everyone went home hungry. It’s obvious they don’t come for the food, but I’m delighted they all just want to come!