Sunday afternoon

Sunday afternoons have always been special. Sunday afternoons are not the same for everyone and we most likely all have an ideal of what it should be like. My Sunday afternoons have changed along with the decades. When I was a little girl it meant a trip to Grandma's house after church for a dinner, listening to a lot of family members catching up with each others news. Later the cousins depending on upstate NY weather we would sit in the barn, or under the apple tree. It was a time when people were not "Too Busy".

Later years after a move to Florida we would have our Sunday dinner with our family and usually a preacher and other friends. My mother and father always had room at the table for anyone who may have visited the morning service at church or other friends who just dropped in as the Sunday dinner was being put on the table. Late in the afternoon before returning to church we would take a boat ride. It was still a time that people took the time .. they were not "Too Busy".

After I married this often included my husband's parents, my sister and her growing family. Again it was a lot of conversation about what we had done that week or were planning on doing in the coming week. It included talk about the new shopping center being built, the weather (always a topic in FL) and where the fish were biting. People too the time from their schedules that no matter... they were not "Too Busy" for Sunday dinner.

My husband and I moved to Tennessee, away from old friends and family we still maintained our Sunday after church except with new friends. As the years went by it often included preachers, visiting missionaries, friends of our children and sometimes even a resident of a local nursing home. I was busy with little children and my husband was very busy with work.. but not "Too Busy".
As the years went by and our four older children moved away it was soon my husband, our youngest daughter and myself. We still kept up the Sunday dinner routine but soon the new restaurants were waiting to be tired out. My husband would often find one he liked so that would be the place we would head to immediately after church. It is laughable now, because he would always choose that same restaurant - and our daughter and I would beg for a change!

Now it is Sunday afternoon and all the children are busy with after church activities and work. This afternoon we met friends for dinner at a new restaurant in town. It was nice, but really not quite the same. I think next week I need to revive that tradition of Sunday dinner at home with friends. What if no one comes? I doubt if that will happen. I think that if you cook dinner... they will come. And, again there will be good food, laughing, conversation and mounds of dirty dishes left in the kitchen. That is OK with me. Later,while the dishes are being done, I will be thankful for my kitchen, the bounty of food, the table surrounded by old friends who we love and maybe some new friends we will get to know better. Either way -- We are not "Too Busy" - Welcome back Sunday dinner! By the way.. what are you doing this Sunday?