Summer campfires

For the last three nights in a row, I've spent some time around a campfire. It's one of my favorite things to do in the summer, so what a great stretch it's been.
The thing I love about campfires is what they do to the people sitting around them. I don't know what it is, but if you sit around a campfire you just want to share with the people around you.
We had one campfire with family and two with friends. All three yielded some intriguing conversations.
The highlight of the three was Sunday night at the home of Mark & Cindi Lantz. My wife, kids, dog and I were invited over to their house for dinner and fellowship. We cooked hot dogs and ate around the fire while the dogs (we have a 4-month-old Golden Retriever and they have a 3-year-old Golden Retriever from the same family) played in and near the lake.
It was a great time of getting to know this couple who is an awesome example to young parents. They made us feel completely comfortable. They made us feel like it was fun for them to have us there. They made us feel important.
For a couple who has children in high school, college and done with college to take a night they could have had to themselves and spend it with a couple much younger than them, and kids much younger than theirs, is special.
When my kids grow up I want them to be like Mark & Cindi's kids. Their daughter showers our kids with love, not something every high school senior would do.
Setting a good example may just be the most difficult thing to do in life. It's easy to tell people how they should live. It's easy to tell people what you've done right and what they're doing wrong.
The Lantz family is a living example of what I want our family to be like. They served us dinner around a campfire Sunday night. It will be a campfire I'll always be thankful for.