Very nice thread that you have dug up.

Welcome BBQ hobby!

I wrote the original passage that this thread is based on, yet somehow I missed in when LD reposted it. I am sad to say that my friend passed on last fall, after living nearly a year longer than he was supposed to. He was a great guy who wore a smile until his dying day.

Although pretty much everyone here takes their Q seriously, I think most recognize that Q'ing is really just an excuse to share time with friends and family. Don't ever forget that.

Sorry for your loss David. But I am proud to know you through this forum! I will never forget! Friends and Family and Fun! If not.... I don't do it!

While there is no one true way in Q, this may be the one true way in life

anytime I cook back home I always make lots of extra, we eat our fill, give the rest to family, and neighbors. It has broughy us closer to the neighbors, something that has been very important now that I work away form home for months at a time, I been home 6 days this year so far...

The neighbors have all chipped in to help my wife with yard maintenance and offered to be there if anything is needed.

I could have been selfish and kept the leftovers to myself, but why? my freezers are full, and the 2 of us can only eat so much BBQ each week. T

Puts it back into prospective...

Swine- I am so sorry that you lost your friend. It leaves an emptiness that will always be there - even it's just a little bit.

Experience tells me that if you cook a comp and leave without making friends with at least one team, something is wrong.

We're small time competitors, and we've taken home medals or ribbons from just about every comp we've cooked.

But they don't mean jack squat compared to the friends I have made through this sport of BBQ. When I choose to no longer compete, the ribbons tatter and fade, and our successes forgotten by all but me, I will still have those friendships and memories to cherish. This is what matters.

My dad passed away 6 months ago at 68. 3 months earlier We drank beer together at Buffalo Wild Wings at Zonerosa in Kansas City. My adoptive dad is fighting intestinal cancer and my mother is fighting Uterus cancer. My cousins brother just got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. My mother in law just died of brain cancer in January this year at 68 years old. I am 43 and 1 year ago I was 18 if you know what I mean. Life is too short people!

Sometimes I post stuff here and think how stupid it may sound but in the end it really doesn't matter. I enjoy all the people here. You guys are truly a class act. I just helped a buddy burn and build a UDS today and it was all for the fun of getting a newbie involved.

My father was a "griller", loved his Pork steak, taught me how to do it his way, liked them burnt some and I still do them the same way, 44 years later.

He also "boiled" his ribs before throwing them, well gently laying them on the gas grill, they were pretty tender from the hot water at that point. Thats just the way he did it and they were good.

Open Pit was his favorite sauce, and I still use it sometimes.

I lost my father in 1994. I would LOVE a plate of his boiled then grilled ribs, a few beers and a conversation.

Sorry for your loss David.

Wows...really makes you take a step back and look at it. Before everyone was doing it for money, or fame, or whatever there driving motivation. I am not saying that everyone is that way. But to take a look at the true origins of bbq, why we do it...This was a great thread in 2012 and an even better one in 2014. I am sorry for everyone's loss. I truly appreciate the sincerity of this forum and the guys on it. I have learned about a lot more than just good bbq here.

This registers somewhere deep in me. I lost my mother to cancer last month, she was 56. "Life is too short" and it can change in an instant. People have a lot to offer if you give them the chance. It is important to see beyond all the distractions life can place in our way. Thank you for sharing this. My thoughts are with his family.... I truly feel for them.

Cancer sucks ass................:sad:

Yes it does! I would bet to say, all of us here have probably known someone who have lost their life to it. I am thankful to say that my Mom just won her battle against breast cancer and I'm praying that it stays in remission. Life must go on and we must cherish every day we are blessed with those we care about.

56! My God, that is too young. What a terrible loss for you and your family.

I sure do miss my mom and dad. And many friends along the way. This is why I might choose to cook a certain way for myself, but, will cook however my family and friends wish to eat, as their being happy is far more important to me, than cooking BBQ on my terms.

Your original post really moved me and help me further articulate something I'd already seen and felt. It came at a time for me when my father was beginning his decline as cancer was sucking his life away.

I used to write a lot about his idea of BBQ vs. mine. We were complete BBQ opposites. And yet, the time spent behind the grill with him to this day is some of the best time in my life. I cherish every memory.

We lost him last July. I would love to tell you that cancer took him mercifully fast; it didn't. It was slow, and aweful.

I haven't cooked BBQ since his passing, but the old Lang is looking mighty pitiful sitting there unused. I think it's time I made a few more friends, and rekindled a few old friendships.