Remember the meeting I mentioned in my blog yesterday? It was tonight and all meetings should be this wonderful. Miss Jan made the tea (I do not like making sweet iced tea unless it is lemon mint tea) and brought the makings for s'mores. I had chili and chips and fixin's. Of course I worried it wouldn't be enough, and that maybe we needed more courses. How silly. Black bean chili and s'mores! What else could you possible need? Salad and soup courses would've been ridiculous. We sat around that magnificent fire circle that Bill the Magnificent is making down by the lake and listened to the crackle of the fire. It was the perfect fire, big enough to keep us warm, not so big that it was uncomfortable. I'm not sure how he did this, but Bill had the fire perfectly timed to die down just enough at s'more time so that it was easy to heat the marshmallows until they were just melting, then briefly flame them and smack them onto the graham cracker and chocolate. That is the perfect dessert (especially since I found some gluten free graham crackers)
What was so great about this meeting was not the food or the fire. It was the friends (old and new) assembled there. We chatted together, laughed, sang, listened to the guitar players, prayed for each other and our families, sang some more. It was so relaxed and fun that I hated to see it end.
Maggie the Wonder Dog joined in, of course. She moved from lap to lap. I was super surprised at how she visited with everyone, loved on everyone, expected everyone to love her. To Maggie, every person sitting around the fire ring tonight was family, and that's how she treated them. No one excluded. Everyone loved. What a wonderful way to treat people! She may be "just a dog" but her kindness this evening exceeded that of many people I know. I'd like to be more like her.
Tonight, I'm thankful for Bill the Magnificent, the new fire circle, bonfires, campfire songs, old friends, new friends, the Spirit that unites us, and, of course, Maggie the Wonder Dog.
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