A Small Price to Pay

$2.88...

What Can you possibly buy with $2.88 you ask?  A great meal but, more importantly an evening with wonderful friends!  Since cake-eater came back into town, we all decided to get together tonight to just be in the company of some of those we love most and share a meal.  At first, I was really worried about how I was going to pull off bringing something to a meal and purchasing something for a meal this weekend with only $10!  We decided on spaghetti so I thought, well, I have a box of unopened noodles in my pantry, I'll bring that and some jarred sauce as my contribution.  Once I got to the store, I started to wonder if one jar was enough (you know me, always worrying about the details) so I decided to buy two jars of sauce. I was excited because the sauce was only $1.44 so before tax, I was only paying $2.88 for my part of the meal because I already had the noodles.  In the back of my mind, as I left the store, I was thinking about what I was going to make for the meal that I would have to provide this weekend.

I had a wonderful time at dinner, laughing and joking around with people that aren't just friends to me any longer but rather more like family.  At one point, I just sat there thinking how different it would have been if we would have gone to a restaurant.  So much less personal, so much less real and well, there's the fact that we would have missed VB's dog howling too :)!  It made me think about how many missed opportunities I've had to truly connect with others over the years because instead of staying in and enjoying each other, we've all been rushing to a restaurant to pay $20 for a meal we could have made ten times better at home!  I am not saying that eating out is evil or that I don't enjoy to do it from time to time but come on!  

At the end of the meal, there were so many leftovers and somehow, my friend Matt and myself (he and I are on the spending fast together) ended up with all of the leftovers.  When I was walking out to my car, I thought, God provides in the most unexpected, unrequested ways sometimes!  Here I am thinking about what I am going to make for a meal this weekend with $7, walking out of the house with PLENTY of food for another meal (actually 4 other meals)!  

The meal was excellent and remarkably economical.  The real treasure though was preparing and enjoying a meal with friends that wasn't dictated by when the server decided to bring the check...