Sunday Dinners
and the joy that can come from caring for my family
Many of you know my schedule. I travel for work three weeks out of the month. Usually I’m gone for two nights but with flights home after a long day this usually means that I miss three dinners during that week.
This also means that I don’t cook. There was a day, back when the kiddos were little and I was at home with them where I cooked every meal. I got pretty good at it and with a very limited budget learned how to stretch a dollar and meals to feed our little family.
But it was hard! Doug was usually coaching and that timeframe between late afternoon and dinner is usually a fussy time for littles. Let’s just say I wasn’t finding the joy in cooking. But there were times I did enjoy it and it did get easier as the kids got older.
Fast forward and I am slap out of practice. When Doug left education several years ago we literally flopped duties and he took his turn at being home and managing the majority of the household. The kids don’t remember my years cooking and swear their father is so much better at it than I am - and admittedly he is. But recently, he started training for a new role - getting certified in air traffic dispatching. This has him away from home much more not to mention the amount of prep work he has to do. With his added load we had to discuss what my new involvement would be in the day to day when I am here. One thing he said that would help - could I cook dinner once or twice a week?
Sunday night is one of the easiest times for me to cook. It is also one of the few times we are all together. For the last few weeks I’ve been preparing Sunday Supper. Surprisingly, I’ve found joy in cooking for my family. But it’s less about the cooking and more about the time around the table.
You see, recently, I had to ask myself the question, “What do you want the next 2-3 years to look like?” Charlotte, my daughter, graduates two years from this May and my son, Douglass, three years from then as well. I’m realizing those moments sitting around the table as a family unit are almost over and while there will be more moments around the table after they leave, this chapter with them home is almost complete.
And so I find myself soaking up as much as I can as we sit around that dinner table on a Sunday night. Talking, laughing, and joshing each other. The meals I prepare aren’t always perfect and sometimes a bit of a flop, but the time together is so, so precious.
Wish I could go back and tell that weary momma that the memories she was creating and the time she was prepping would one day be cherished. There was a lot of fun yet to come with her one day teenagers sitting around the dinner table on a Sunday night!