*mom do not read unless you intend to use a box of Kleenex as I needed to
For over the last 10 years Sunday Night Dinners at Moms house has been going on. Even those times when I would go away for a period of time overseas I knew that coming back I had Sunday nights to look forward to, a time of visiting with my mom and brother. There was a point in our lives that Sunday nights or days at one point were not that popular, feelings towards each other were sometimes hostile. Over the last few years with everyone growing up they have turned out to be a time of visiting, and good food. A time to connect with a friend, my mom, and a time to hopefully see my brother.
This last Sunday was one that I got through without thinking about what was beyond it. It was our last regular Sunday together as family as friends. There will no longer be a weekly visit to Moms house, no longer be an amazing meal to look forward to at the end of a week. Now instead there will be skype phone calls, perhaps while we eat in our own homes. Perhaps brother and sister will carry on a tradition, but with lives being busy and things often forgotten about, I can only hope that there will be a Sunday dinner occasionally.
Now I will have to travel over 1,300 kms to have a Sunday night dinner. Who would have thought it was me staying in the city, while mom moved away. Now both parents are no longer living in the same city has their children. I know things could be worse, I am lucky enough to still have both of my parents, I know that moving away for mom is a great move for her. However its hard not to cry when I think that I will no longer have my friend and mom here, I no longer have my dad here, they are now phone calls away, and I am still here. I am here, and possibly leaving in the near future, leaving behind family, friends, and the life that I have known for so long. We will all be apart, each family member at that point living and experiencing totally different things.
I believe that there are chapters in our lives, that people come and go, places come and go, Dinner at moms on Sundays has come to a close, one that I secretly wish wasn't closing quite yet. Maybe they will come back sometimes, or maybe someday Sunday dinners at Moms will be at our house, with our grown up kids coming back for a visit.
Mom, you have been a friend to me, we have gotten past a lot of hurdles to be where we are. I only wish and pray the best for you and can't wait to come visit you soon, hopefully in a house that you can call your own soon, with a kitchen big enough that we can all sit around an island on stools eating dip and pita while dinner is cooking! Much love.
Ahh Mallory I think I need a kleenex! I still remember when I still lived there and you would go to your moms for the dinners:).and I feel for you cause Sundays have not been the same down here since my parents moved! Hopefully you will b able to start a new tradition :). Luv ya Lisa F
ReplyDeleteMy Dear Mallory, and Dear World,
ReplyDeleteLove bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. And how sweet it is when this is affirmed, as you have done, with your beautiful, aching and hopeful words.
Sunday dinners. Oh, I remember when you were not eating meat; ha, and Scott would only eat meat! How much more cooking I got to do! And the mega 5 lb Calzones and Marshall tackling lobster, your face as you bit into a lemon instead of a lemon potato, or a cardomom seed by mistake! Our Pike Lake tin foil suppers in the fall. I miss those! Sometimes there was more money for food, sometimes less, but always, Sunday dinners were a budget priority! And you, you always made it a priority to come, and would tell your employer that you couldn't work Sundays. I realized then how important it was, this tradition we had, to you, to Scott and to me. My weekends often revolved around deciding what to cook, shopping for groceries, and then spending Sunday, so happy, in the kitchen till you and Scott arrived, and more recent, Marshall as well...and gathering in the kitchen before dinner….always with music, and oh yes, how I loved to watch Marshall eating so heartily! And afterward, when you all left, I washed dishes and cleaned up, and reflected on our time together and felt so very fortunate for our time together. There were times when we were not together, but when we were, it was a given, you would be over for dinner on Sunday. And even after you and Marshall were married, you came! Imagine, my children actually wanted to be there, around the table, in my kitchen with me! (Well most of the time, right?)
And so now, it will be different, we will be apart, but I know, absolutely, that when we can, we will be around the table together again. And we will have so much more to share; our experiences and adventures. Thank you, dear Mallory, for sticking with me, with our family tradition, through all the seasons of life so far. We will all go through changes, but I know we can count on each other, you, Scott, Marshall and me, to hold and value time together around the table. Oh, I will miss you. And yes, there are tears and then gratitude and happiness for what we share. Skype dinners ... I'll be there to join you, Scott and Marshall. Thank you for being my friend and such an amazing daughter. Always, Mom