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Full Circle

Along time ago in a land called Kansas, Ben had two best friends - Katee and Jack.  The three of them were thick as thieves and hung out together daily.  All three were homeschooled, they all lived right next to each other, all their fathers were Army, and they all attended the same church and youth group.

When we found out we were moving to Hawaii, Ben was incensed because he didn't want to leave his friends.  He wrote a post on Facebook about not wanting to move to a stupid island in the middle of the stupid ocean and how we were ruining his life.  It didn't matter that Katee and Jack were also moving at the same time - one to Georgia and one to Oklahoma - he was going to be the furthest away and couldn't even go on road trips to see them because the stupid ocean was in the way.

He and Jack and Katee have kept in touch although they obviously haven't kept the same level of intensity to their friendship what with five years passing by and none of them being in the same state again.

But Katee only lives five hours away from away from us here in Illinois, and she got married yesterday.  And although Ben lives in Kentucky, he's home for the holidays and he was able to go to the wedding.

Kerry drove over with him for company, while the girls and I stayed home because someone has to walk the dogs.

Kerry got a chance to talk to the father-of-the-bride before the wedding and they were laughing about how we all reacted to each other's kids back in our Kansas days.

The first time Katee showed up at our door to ask if Ben could come outside, the girls came screeching through the house, "There's a girl at the door asking for Ben!"  We all went to the door to look at her.  She probably felt like a fish in a bowl, but we were all flabbergasted.  This had never happened before and we weren't sure what to make of it.

Katee's dad told Kerry a similar story yesterday, one we'd never heard before.  He told Kerry he'd liked Ben from the first time they met because Ben passed the "knife test".

Apparently the first time Ben showed up at their door, Katee's dad had just received a new hunting knife.  It was really long and he just happened to have it in his hand when he answered the door and found a boy there asking for his daughter.

Without preamble, he held the knife up and said, "This knife could go all the way through you."

 "Yep, it probably could," Ben replied cheerfully.  "Can Katee come outside?"


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