Call it what you want....

Things have been good for my brother lately.

He bought a wonderful house. Got himself a truck to go with it. Is learning to budget his money and pack his lunch. And during this whole process has come to appreciate family more than ever before. (Could it be the hours and hours of help we provided during the grueling move? LOL!)

So, after 16 years of dropping by our house for dinner, Jake called me and invited us over to his house for a weeknight meal. He made roasted chicken thighs and homemade mashed potatoes. I brought the salad fixings.

It is our custom, at my house, to say grace before meals. So as we sat down to eat, we looked expectantly at my atheist brother. "Are you going to say grace?" the kids asked.

For a second, Jake looked a little like a deer in the headlights. But then he grasped the hands of my husband and youngest son and said

"Big Bang. Energy of the Universe. Whatever you are... Thank you for my new home, this amazing year, and most of all, for my family."

Amen.