Day Seven: The Pizza Group

About 20 years ago our church began a worship service on Saturday night with about 300 people to accommodate numerical growth that had exceeded the space we had available. When a new facility was ready a couple of years later, about half that congregation returned to Sunday mornings. But the other half found the Saturday night schedule refreshing and wanted to continue. So we did.

Groups of friends usually swarmed the local restaurants after worship and continued the Saturday night experience. A bunch off us regularly crowded in to Godfather's Pizza and became known as "the pizza group." But things changed. Godfather's closed. We started meeting in one another's homes and ordering pizza. Our kids grew up and started going out together instead of meeting with us. So we started going out to eat again. Our metabolism changed and we started eating salads at Sweet Mesquite. Sweet Mesquite changed owners and names. The Saturday night service moved back to Sunday after 18 years. Some of us moved away. But one thing hasn't changed. We still refer to ourselves as the pizza group and we still get together whenever possible.

We try to camp out a couple of times a year. We eat Mexican food at the same house each Christmas Eve. And we've gathered here at the farm several time. Last night four of those couples, four of their adult children, one grandchild, and five dogs from the pizza group met at the farm for a New Years weekend.

Someone brought a portable satellite dish so we could watch football (we have alums from Baylor, OU, and A and M, all of whom are in bowl games). We ate and laughed and chased dogs. I'm pretty well convinced that the irreplaceable friends in life are those with whom you raised your children.