Dude! Did You SEE That?
Last night around 10:30 I was beside myself with wanting to go to sleep. I was tired and the slightest bit grumpy and I just wanted to get UP IN THE BED.
But David's office / TV room is right below our bedroom, and he and Benji - two 30-something men, mind you - were playing XBox downstairs with the surround speakers cranked up to OH MY SWEET MERCY THE WALLS ARE SHAKING, and about once every two minutes I heard some variation of "HEY!" or "WHOA!" or "OHHHHHH - I GOT YA!" or, when it really got good,
"THAT!
WAS!
AWESOME!"
And even though I was tired, and even though I was practically dreaming of sleeping, no way - NO WAY - would I have gone downstairs and asked them to be quiet or turn it down. No way.
Because hearing them have so much fun makes me way too happy. And they were having much fun indeed.
One of the biggest blessings in my life is that I can honestly say that I love my husband's friends. Maybe it's because David and I have such similar senses of humor, but the guys he hangs out with are people I'd hang out with, too. There's not a single friend whose character I question. Or who I'd mind being on vacation with us. Or - even better for me - whose wife I don't love just as much.
David probably has four or five friends who he talks to on a regular basis, but only a couple of them live here in town. So when he gets to see them for any extended period of time, I try to make it as easy on them as I can. No pleas from me to do anything other than what they want to do. No demands on their time. No task on the honey-do list that can't wait until another weekend.
The funniest thing about David and Benji is that they speak some cryptic guy language indecipherable to Brandie and me. One of them can say, "Hey. Look. Corn." and they'll both fall over laughing, while Brandie and I just stare at them, wondering what in the world is the cause for such hysterics. Friday night at supper the topic of Benji going to the dentist came up, and within about two minutes B. and D. were giggling like a couple of second grade boys who just heard someone say the word "bootie."
I still have no idea what was so funny.
Their time together has been a little different this visit because there are a couple of little boys who want to be with their daddies every waking second. Who want to watch them play video games. Who want to hang out on the deck and grill. Who want to scream "WHOA" and "NO WAY" just like the big boys do. And I think that David and Benji haven't minded the inconvenience too much, because it makes them grateful that their boys look up to them like they do. It's affirmation that they're doing their daddy jobs well.
But since the big boys have let the little boys hang out with them so much, Brandie and I ran interference this afternoon so that B. and D. could have some uninterrupted time to play video games that little eyes don't necessarily need to see. Games with machine guns and blood and stuff. And a little while ago, when the big guys finally came upstairs to join the rest of us, the little guys nearly jumped through the roof. And as I watched Alex and P. run in circles while Benji and David were cracking one liners in the kitchen - one liners that made no sense to me whatsoever - I thought about what a different world they inhabit.
It's a world where there's a visceral need to see things explode and burn and shatter (even if it's just on XBox). A world where something you can plug in is an object of instant fascination. A world where words are fewer and noises are most definitely louder. Not to mention funnier. And a world where something that plugs in and produces loud noises is, well, gold.
I am so very thankful, in ways I can't even explain, for reasons I can't even articulate, that David has some great, godly friends who walk through that world with him.
And I hope I never take that - or them - forgranted.
But David's office / TV room is right below our bedroom, and he and Benji - two 30-something men, mind you - were playing XBox downstairs with the surround speakers cranked up to OH MY SWEET MERCY THE WALLS ARE SHAKING, and about once every two minutes I heard some variation of "HEY!" or "WHOA!" or "OHHHHHH - I GOT YA!" or, when it really got good,
"THAT!
WAS!
AWESOME!"
And even though I was tired, and even though I was practically dreaming of sleeping, no way - NO WAY - would I have gone downstairs and asked them to be quiet or turn it down. No way.
Because hearing them have so much fun makes me way too happy. And they were having much fun indeed.
One of the biggest blessings in my life is that I can honestly say that I love my husband's friends. Maybe it's because David and I have such similar senses of humor, but the guys he hangs out with are people I'd hang out with, too. There's not a single friend whose character I question. Or who I'd mind being on vacation with us. Or - even better for me - whose wife I don't love just as much.
David probably has four or five friends who he talks to on a regular basis, but only a couple of them live here in town. So when he gets to see them for any extended period of time, I try to make it as easy on them as I can. No pleas from me to do anything other than what they want to do. No demands on their time. No task on the honey-do list that can't wait until another weekend.
The funniest thing about David and Benji is that they speak some cryptic guy language indecipherable to Brandie and me. One of them can say, "Hey. Look. Corn." and they'll both fall over laughing, while Brandie and I just stare at them, wondering what in the world is the cause for such hysterics. Friday night at supper the topic of Benji going to the dentist came up, and within about two minutes B. and D. were giggling like a couple of second grade boys who just heard someone say the word "bootie."
I still have no idea what was so funny.
Their time together has been a little different this visit because there are a couple of little boys who want to be with their daddies every waking second. Who want to watch them play video games. Who want to hang out on the deck and grill. Who want to scream "WHOA" and "NO WAY" just like the big boys do. And I think that David and Benji haven't minded the inconvenience too much, because it makes them grateful that their boys look up to them like they do. It's affirmation that they're doing their daddy jobs well.
But since the big boys have let the little boys hang out with them so much, Brandie and I ran interference this afternoon so that B. and D. could have some uninterrupted time to play video games that little eyes don't necessarily need to see. Games with machine guns and blood and stuff. And a little while ago, when the big guys finally came upstairs to join the rest of us, the little guys nearly jumped through the roof. And as I watched Alex and P. run in circles while Benji and David were cracking one liners in the kitchen - one liners that made no sense to me whatsoever - I thought about what a different world they inhabit.
It's a world where there's a visceral need to see things explode and burn and shatter (even if it's just on XBox). A world where something you can plug in is an object of instant fascination. A world where words are fewer and noises are most definitely louder. Not to mention funnier. And a world where something that plugs in and produces loud noises is, well, gold.
I am so very thankful, in ways I can't even explain, for reasons I can't even articulate, that David has some great, godly friends who walk through that world with him.
And I hope I never take that - or them - forgranted.
posted by boomama at 7/08/2006 08:40:00 PM
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