Balderdash!

I had planned on writing about paint balling tonight but I changed my mind. Stay tuned for that tale. My parents came over for dinner. I made a huge pot of tortilla soup with all the fixings. The nine of us sat around our looooooong dinner table. When the eating was done, we cleared the table and brought out the dice for a friendly game of 10,000 (I won!). The room was filled with my favorite people in the world and raucous laughter. I had a good time. It was fun. But there was an empty chair.

Bryan would join us a couple times a month for nights like this one. We would feast and then get down to games. He liked Blitz, Taboo, Catch Phrase, Scattergories (he could find an answer for every name on his list--no matter the letter) and Balderdash. That game was his specialty. If you've played it, you know that it entails bluffing and making up fake definitions for real (but ridiculously obscure) words. He was the master! Only my father-in-love Tom plays it better. The two of them together! I think it may have happened once. I forget who won?

Bryan introduced my palette to so many interesting foods that I would not normally have given a taste. Tortilla soup is one. He took me to Chili's and ordered for me (he is the only human on the face of this earth that I ever allow to do that for me!). Tortilla soup and southwestern egg rolls. Never would have given either item a second glance. He just "knew". I loved it. Now I make my best friend's recipe as a staple around here. I even made it for him once (thanks Meredith).

I want to say that things are getting back to normal for our families. People have commented that we look happy or we sound good. We are laughing. We told stories tonight. We enjoyed each other's company around our table. But Bryan wasn't there. And I missed him. His empty chair made my heart ache. I guess this is the NEW "normal".