…When you realize that you’ve made good friends.
I suppose that this story won’t find any purchase among the cellular telephone generation, but those of a more ancient persuasion might recall the anxious time of waiting for dinner guests who are late. In our case, we had invited the clinic lab tech and his wife over for dinner after church last week, expecting that they would be in attendance at prayers. They failed to come to prayers, and so we were left in some uncertainty as to whether they were going to join us for the meal. We waited awhile and finally decided that something had prevented them from coming.
Long story short, Chloe and I were most of the way through the meal, and due to the abundance of extra food, we had eaten our fill, when we could hear them arriving at the door. As you might imagine, some initial awkwardness took place (I mean, what can you say—you were so incredibly late that we not only decided to eat without you, but finished the meal—it’s tough to say it tactfully) followed by a bit of scramble to discreetly beef (or chicken!) up what was left of the meal.
But after we had gotten through the discomfiture, we sat down again to the meal, and my rigorous training took over whereupon I was enabled to continue eating—at least something—so that they would not feel awkward. In the end, we all enjoyed the meal and they ended up staying the whole afternoon until evening prayers. We spent the time in conversation, laughing at stories, passing the child around, and the like. Basic Sunday afternoon stuff.
To my mind, the ability to pass such an enjoyable afternoon after its false starts serves as an excellent rubric by which to judge a relationship. Chloe and I were thankful for the opportunity to show grace, even as it has no doubt been shown to us those times when these friends have hosted our own haphazard family.
I think without our help they realized that they were late. Apparently something had come up at home preventing them from being “on time.” That said, lateness is much more elastic around here than it typically is in America.
Do they have a fashionably late time frame in that culture or not. Did they say why they were late or is “lateness” more of an American concept than African? Glad that you had a nice time regardless and it didn’t ruin your afternoon.