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There were four bowls of salad - apple salad, potato salad, Bauer salad, and a salad that included pieces of chocolate striped cookies.
We had set up a little wager at our end of the table as to whether Jacob or Harmon would take the Bauer salad or the cookie salad.
I had the cookie salad and 6 black olives for Harmon.
I won.
As the two guys moved along the line, the rest of us filled behind them, making jokes about the day and who would be chosen for which side in the backyard volleyball match after we ate.
There was my favorite kind of fried chicken, made (I was reminded) with Corn Flakes and not the other box of stuff from the store that I always thought of first. I know what I like and this is it - I just didn't remember what it was I liked.
In fact, I remember one time insisting to my mom that I wanted cream cheese on my potatoes. I was sure that's how I saw them served at Mr. Steak.
So, mom got out the cream cheese.
Oh, I was wrong - I did not care for cream cheese - at least not on potatoes. Turns out, I was looking for sour cream - a correction it took about 15 years to figure out - since after the cream cheese debacle I stuck with butter on my potatoes, thank you very much.
There was fresh lemonade in sweating pitchers at the end of the buffet line. We used the traditional family set up for our buffet. Several sets of saw horses and old doors we left out in the garage were laid across them to create a perfect serving line.
A glass of lemonade in one hand, while in the other was a plate loaded with fried chicken, bread and butter sandwiches, green olives with pimento, Bauer and cookie salad, and hot buttered biscuits with honey.
It was then I realized why we didn't do these big dinners more often... if we did we probably wouldn't be able to get behind the wheel of the tractor anymore.
Jacob and Harmon sat at one end of the table - Pastor Bob sat next to Harmon while Scotty, Rich, and I pushed our way onto the available space on the table for four.
"Jacob, what happened that night after you got me to the hospital? I never saw you again," Harmon asked.
"Well, Harm," Jacob answered before taking a breath and clearing his throat. "It's a long story."
"On the way to the hospital, our ambulance was re-routed twice. Once because of a fender-bender that blocked the road and the other time because the Smyth family's cattle was heading out to the pasture after milking and we would have had to wait them to finish crossing before we could move again.
"So, we made those adjustments and drove as fast as we could to get you into the Emergency Room and in the hands of the doctors. The entire time we were doing that, I was on the radio with the nurse and keeping an eye on your vital signs while thinking we could not get there fast enough.
"We arrived and Tom and I wheeled you inside to where the doctors were waiting. They took X-rays and arranged for an MRI before deciding the bones in your leg were lined up OK and all they needed to do was set your leg in a cast."
Harmon looked up, "But, Jacob - what happened to you?"
"That was the night, Harmon, that I decided I needed to do more than work as an Emergency Medical Technician.
"When I got home I took an online aptitude test that indicated I should look into a type of therapy, either occupational or physical. Then I looked into some places I could study, and by the following Monday was enrolled at Concordia University over at Mequon in the Therapy 101 Class for their summer semester."
"Wait," Scotty chimed in, "you are leaving Marberg to become a therapist?"
"That's right, Scotty."
"Well, that's great news, Jacob. We all knew you could really make a difference helping people and this sounds like just the ticket for you. Hey - everybody - Jacob is going to school to become a therapist."
Our good sized group of family and friends cheered and the women formed a line to give him hugs and kisses good luck. The men were more likely to punch him in the shoulder than shake his hand, but the sentiment was the same.
Before the evening was over Jacob told a few of us he still wanted to live here in the valley and hoped to do therapy for some of the older adults in the retirement home on the west edge of the county and help with some of the athletes at school and folks who just needed to get their bodies back in shape after surgery or injury.
As the boys and I finished putting away the doors and stacking up the chairs I reflected on some of what Jacob told us.
It's a great reminder of the beauty of how God works - a difficult and unimaginable night many weeks ago has re-shaped several lives and now with Jacob's new career choice even more lives could be changed for the better in the future. I looked up at the band of stars reaching east to west across the sky, smiled, and whispered, "Thank you, Lord. Again."
Catch up on the series here.
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