Visiting Angels

I don't have any pictures for you this time, so sorry. School has ended, and I officially have one more year before I get my bachelor's degree. I will have done it a year shy of 30. Why 30 should be such a big number in my head when I live with a 70 and a 67 year-old, I do not know. There is life after 30, and a good life to be sure. And I don't feel that old, at any rate.
Well, my best friend Melody and her husband Todd came up to see me a couple days ago. I really enjoyed our time together. I took them to my favorite coffee place, the Coffee Cottage. We sat and talked about my favorite two subjects, food and Jesus.
Then, we came back to my house, and I finished getting dinner ready.
I think I am a food addict. No, seriously, it's a sickness, and I need help. The day before they arrived, I went shopping with my landlords at Winco, came home, and went right to work getting everything ready for dinner. I was up until midnight putting the finishing touches on the pie (that then slid off the plate when I tried to detach it from the foil it was resting on~ I managed to save it though). I built the whole menu around Melody's favorite 3-citrus-butter-sauce from Northwest Essentials: Cooking with Ingredients that Define a Region by Greg Atkinson. If you are in the Northwest, my suggestion is that you get this cookbook (I got mine from the BookBin in Salem, Oregon) and just try one recipe in it. You'll be hooked for life. I made a salad with greens from my CSA farm, Oakhill Organics, strawberries, almonds, goat cheese fritters with almonds, and a dressing that goes with Strawberries. Todd sauteed the squash medley to perfection. I made dutches potatoes with some nutmeg, broiled red snapper (and forgot to take the pin bones out! bad idea!), and a strawberry rhubarb pie with whole wheat pastry flour (word to the wise, use white flour). It was delicious, but not perfect. And you know, that's a lot like life.
I love my friendships, but none of them are perfect. I love to cook, but no meal I have ever made has been free of some sort of issue. That doesn't mean life cannot be savored to the fullest degree while accepting what is not perfect as good still. Those who seek perfection will never find the beauty that heals the soul. These flaws, happy mistakes, are a part of what learning forgiveness, love, and hope is all about. And I am finding that the flaws are easier to deal with if I give myself and others the grace that is needed to hold Topsy-turvey pies and unexpected character development together. We grow and learn through these conflicts, and I am grateful for them.
So, my friends, if you come see me, I'll cook you  a less than perfect meal, and share my less than perfect self with you. And somehow, I know, we will both be the better for it. And if not, remember next time something doesn't quite go according to plan, that's why we have grace, forgiveness, and good friends. Life gets better, and there is beauty to be found in the less than perfect places of life.