amen to the dinner table

(the above picture has nothing to do with the below story, but it's a good picture and the dinner table in the story is the same dinner table in the picture, and yes, that is eason in ada brooks's senorita dress - what can i say - some friends of his dared him, and he's not scared....)



We are supposed to be an idyllic american family who sits down to eat supper together every night.

We don't. I could hem and haw and justify, but it basically boils down to two facts:

1) Paul's weird-a schedule in which he's tutoring/flute lessoning/going to class/studying, etc., means that he's often not here when the children need to eat and

2) I'm kind of selfish and would actually like three suppers a week to be uninterrupted by spilled milk, requests for second, third and fourth napkins. Basically, I'd like to eat my food while it's warm, and I would like to have a conversation in between bites.

But we do sit down together a lot. And whenever we do, I almost always wish we did it more than twice or three times a week. I wish we sat down and ate and visited and I'll deal with the spilled milk and the nakkins and the ridiculous requests for food temperature change (that almost never get entertained -you'd think they would have quit asking by now....)

Because...

When I sit down with Ada Brooks, Eason and Paul, I'm sitting with three of my seven favorite people with whom to have a conversation, and how often does that happen?

Tuesday evening of this week, we did sit down for supper (cottage pie - which needs its own post).

A window into our lives:

Me: "Whose night is it to bless?"

*Silence* (no help even from the co-parent to my left)

Me: "Ada - i don't think you've blessed in a while" (I happen to know I'm a hundred percent right about this - she went through a 'i don't like blessing in public phase' that i've been pretending didn't exist by just nominating her every now and then. And if she declined, we moved on without a fight. some battles I will not pick, by damn. And! It worked! Because she said....)

Ada: "I haven't blessed in a while - I'd love to"

Paul: "Okay - let's bow our heads"

Ada: "well, actually, i have this book of blessings and poems and i was wanting to read a blessing out of there"

Paul: *stifled cursing about food getting cold and how hungry he is*

Me: *who dishes her food out last so it will remain warm the longest* "That sounds awesome" *simultaneously sending a silent elbow jab under the table saying "remember the blessing boycott??? do you? - it's ending! don't ruin it! rraaahhh"*

Ada: "I bet I can be back before you count to ten."

Ada, running back into room, takes 3 excruciating minutes to find the damn blessing that she wants to read.

Paul: *stifled more cursing*

Ada: "I found it. thank goodness. Here we go. 'Blessed are you, Oh Lord our God, King of all the world, Who makes bread grow From the earth.'"

Awkward Silence

Ada: "that was it, but it sure needed an 'Amen' at the end. What does Amen mean anyway?"

Paul: "it means 'i believe'

Me: "i thought it meant 'let it be'"

Eason: "I fink it means 'eat'"


Laughter erupts, clearly.

But....we are not done yet.

Me: "well, eas, i believe i'll have to write that one down."

We've all begun to eat at this point, and after she swallows her next bite,

Ada: "mama - you could just put it on facebook"

Me: "Well, remember - I'm not facebooking during Lent."

Chews, swallows, a few other irrelevant remarks are said.

Ada: "well, mama, that'll just have to be the first thing you write on facebook on easter - it's good enough for that, don't you think?"



So... maybe the grownups should eat with the kids more often....