Today I’m grateful for a homecooked meal of comfort food.

11.9.2024

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I had dinner with my friends, the Gonzalezes, tonight. I’ve been friends with this dear family for over 20 years now, but they’ve been very forthright about letting me know that I’m not so much a friend as I am a part of their family. That alone is a huge blessing and one that I’m grateful for over and over and over again.

I have a no-pressure standing invitation to Saturday night dinner and game night at their house every week. I don’t show up every single Saturday, but I do go pretty regularly. I hadn’t really decided (and definitely hadn’t let them know) about tonight until the last minute, but my unannounced arrival on their doorstep was greeted with hugs and a glass of wine.

Margo had made a roast with potatoes and carrots and corn on the cob. It was delicious – true comfort food on a chilly Arizona day. We ate and talked and laughed around the dining room table where I’ve spent hundreds of hours over the last 20 years. We didn’t play any games tonight. Instead, Margo, Victor, Jaime and I moved outside and talked and laughed some more, while we sat around the patio table enjoying the cool Arizona weather.

There’s something special about sitting around a table and sharing a meal with loved ones. Yes, we enjoyed homemade comfort food together tonight, but honestly, as delicious as the meal was, the feeling of comfort came more from the people around the table than the food that was on it.

I left with a full belly, a full heart, and a to-go container full of leftovers. It was a Saturday night beautifully spent.