Our children are growing up. Almost grown. Our oldest is a junior in college and our youngest is going to be a teenager this week. Over the past three years, since our oldest left for college, things have been different with dinner. I had a really hard time dealing with this. It seemed I never knew how many people to plan for, how much food to cook, how much food to buy at the grocery, etc. There were a number of months there that I just didn't cook. I felt paralyzed by the fact that I never knew if our son would be home for dinner or if he would come home with three friends to join us for dinner. I didn't know if our daughter would drop in and eat from college. Of course our youngest was always the constant. She was always there for dinner. So on any given night, it may be two-me and our youngest, or it may be 9-all 5 of us and 4 of my kids' friends. There is a big difference in cooking for two and cooking for 9.
I let it go. I quit worrying about it and I let it go. Dinner is different now. Gone are the days of 5 of us sitting around the table sharing the events of our day-together. As our children grow and start jobs, and school sports and college, dinner is different. I cook almost every night again. When I grocery shop, I plan a couple of small meals and a couple of larger meals(quantity wise). When it is time to cook, I try to guess which amount to cook and most of the time it works out perfectly. I give God the glory for that. He always seems to place it on my heart how much food to prepare for any given night. If it is a night that I plan for three, and our older two come home to eat, then I eat a turkey sandwich without saying a word(as if that is what I had planned to do), or if they come in late, I tell them what is available to eat for dinner. It works great! And we still gather, those of us who are there, at the table or in the living room, eat dinner and share our day. If someone comes in later, we all assemble and talk while they eat their dinner and share our day. No one eats alone. It's different. And that is ok. We change as the times change.
The fact that dinner is different makes me appreciate the times that occur now when all of us are around the table like old times. I treasure those moments more now because I don't take them for granted. If you children are little and still throwing food on the floor and making a huge mess, treasure it. Because one day dinner will be different for you. They won't always make a mess. Different isn't bad. It's just different. Different is good.
Thank you for reading my blog! Have a great day!!
Jennifer
