Steer Over Embers

As most of you know, last Saturday I celebrated my 33rd birthday (although today is my actual B-day). As has become our tradition, Jennifer arranged a fantastic meal at Boi Na Braza with many of our friends. For those of you unaware, Boi Na Braza is a Brazilian Churrascaria, which means that guys in funny pants bring loads of meat to your table until you explode or develop the willpower to flip a small card from the green side to the red side. All in all, fun times. I asked Jennifer to take pictures of the event, so here you go with my pictoral culinary journey.

In the picture above you will see me with the only menu you will find at Boi Na Braza, the large board at the front door that lists the meat that is served. You aren't close enough to see it, but I promise you that the sign informs you that at this location you can have every part of every animal you can imagine from the ears to the hoofs (and all of it is delicious).

Joanna was the first to join us for the evening, although only because she hitched a ride with us to the restaurant. She was, as always, a source of constant entertainment, sharing with us her stories of visiting the Comic Book shop to covertly pick up a birthday present for me (which rocked, by the way), and of an embarrasing game of Taboo with the fine folks at churchofchristsingles.com.

The Deisters took a break from packing for their Australia trip to join us. We were especially blessed this year with Andrew's newfound expertise on all Brazilian cuisine since he spent a couple of weeks in the country this year.

The Wages were part of the group as well. I was particularly thankful to have Alan there, as he inspired all of us to go for just one more plate of meat in honor of our absentee friend Kent. In fairness, however, Alan was not the last one finished, as our Maitre De commented on in the night's first big faux pas. As a side note, the preceding sentence may have been the most pretentious thing I have ever written.

Our one out of town guest was Regan who came with Randy and LaRae (who somehow managed to avoid Jennifer's camara). It's always awesome to see Regan, who is one of my greatest friends.

The Swayne's and the Brown's joined us as well. While Eric and Larissa are old pro's at the Boi Na Braza experience, I was excited to have the Brown's as this year's rookies. One of the thing's that I love about this tradition is the ability to take stock of the new people who have come into my life in the last year. The Brown's are phenomenal people that I am lucky to know and call friends.

Of course, one of our two youngest rookies was Lukas Swayne (the other being Joshua Price, who was as shy as his mother was), who seemed to enjoy the experience. In many ways, this meal is my opportunity to look back on the year in the lives of myself and my friends. While it always seems that very little changes in my life, this year was certainly the bumper crop of babies in our little group. Along with Lukas and Joshua, Kaleb Wages, Maddie Benfer, and Jacqueline Price have all seemingly joined our group overnight (okay, I know Jacqueline joined us more than a year ago, but I don't see her often enough to know how old she is. If you want me to put her in the right age group, Regan, come visit with her more often. We've got a guest room always ready for you).

Jamin was our last guest for the night. "The Body" was in rare form, and was particularly helpful in allowing the guys to win at Rachel's game of "Succotash" (Obscure Baseball players + Jamin and Alan= Big Wins).

It's interesting. As I thought about what I would write for this entry, I figured that I would focus on the extravagance of the meal, or the awesomeness of the presents I received (which they were), but none of those things defined why Saturday night was so special to me. It reminds me of this silly picture that Jennifer has hung in every apartment and house we have lived in since we got married. It says, "Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears." I'm not sure I ever understood it until now. Rachel and Larissa went to a comic book shop for me. Regan drove hundreds of miles to be there. All of you took the time to celebrate the day with me. If my life is to be counted by my friends, then it is a life overflowing with happiness.