The Round Table
To say that I have been blessed is an understatement. I married my best friend and have three amazing children. I am the middle child of seven and we were raised by two amazing parents. We were devastated when our father passed away in September of 2014, but have remained a very close knit family. We all live within a 4 hour drive, speak with each other frequently, and do our best to see one another as often as possible.
I can honestly say that some of my favorite memories from my childhood are the conversations that took place around our kitchen table. We would be gone all day without checking in but needed to be home for dinner at 6:30 sharp. We would sit together as a family nearly every night to share a meal (a difficult task as you can imagine with seven children all active in after-school activities and sports). Every meal was delicious and we used the precious hour to be forthcoming about ourselves. We were each others' live support. During this time we laughed, cried, shouted, pinched, listened, teased and solved problems. Together as a family, we were united as one and strong enough to take on anything because we knew we were there for each other.
Every night we sat down to dinner at "the round table." Even now when I visit my childhood home "the round table" remains the heart of the home as we always seem to congregate around it. The only difference is that our family of 9 has grown into our family of 29.
I have carried on the tradition of sitting down to dinner as a family. Unfortunately, times are very different from when we grew up. Children's sports and activities have taken precedence and technology has further drawn a wedge into the family unit. I fear my children will lack the social skills that are pertinent in adulthood. I worry that their spelling will be as poor as mine but for different reasons. I worry that technology will rob me of my ability to know and grow with my children. This is why I continue to "hold court" at dinner time. Some nights it is at 4:00 in the afternoon and some nights it is at 7:00 in the evening. Whatever we have to do to work around sports and other activities, we make the effort to come together as a family without technology present and just talk to one another. We laugh, cry, shout, pinch, listen, tease and solve problems around "our round table."
