Growing up, there were many things that were important to my parents, but the biggest to my mother was all four of us, sitting down, at the table, for a meal.  This often meant three of us sitting there while the food got cold cooled off, waiting for my dad.

But it didn’t matter.  Happiness to my mother was all of us sitting around the table.

To this day, it still is.

My mother is known to make a Thanksgiving meal days before the actual holiday to accomodate having the family together for the meal.

While I hated this act as a child, often showing up to the dinner table with my Walkman knock off brand of a tape player, I can now understand WHY this is so important to my mother.

Long ago, I realized that the three of us, my children and I, were just not in a situation that we could sit down for dinner together, so I decided that it didn’t matter where we ate, just that we ate together.  It bothers me if I’m eating in my office and they are eating in the living room, so we just don’t do it.

But what I didn’t plan on was that I would actually look forward to dinners at the actual table.

With football season in full swing, eating together is not an option most nights.  Matthew often has to eat at 4pm and Samara and I aren’t hungry (take away the fact that there’s no way I can get a meal prepared by 4… shoot… it’s tough for me to get a meal prepared at any time of the day.)

I miss out meals together.  I miss sitting there and talking.  I miss hearing how days went or just laughing.  I even miss, kinda, Samara whining about how she doesn’t like what I made.

Libby’s created an interactive website called Get Back To the Table that’s filled with recipes as well as tips and information for getting the most out of your grocery dollar to create delicious meals the whole family can enjoy together.

Seriously, y’all.  There’s stuff on there that I can even make.

The next night that no one has anything to do, which very well may be in ten years, the kids and I are going to work together to prepare a meal… and get back to the table.  It’s where we belong…

I never understood why it was so important to my mother… but I do now.

And I’m looking forward to it many family dinners around the table…

Until next time…

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