I Believe In The Power Of A Family Dinner

554 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The importance of family dinners

This I Believe
I believe in the power of a family dinner. When was the last time you sat down for dinner with your family? When was the last time you sat around a circular table and discussed your days? Every single night that we are home, my family sits down for dinner together. And most days, those moments we spend laughing and reminiscing at the dinner table are the happiest moments of my day. We take up the whole table, bumping elbows and reaching across people constantly. When my mom is traveling, and her seat on the left side of the table is empty, dinner feels incomplete.
Family dinner is about finding the time in all of our hectic lives to pause,talk, and spend time together. Usually, I run in muddy and tired from softball practice, and collapse into my unofficially assigned seat at the table. That feeling, the one of knowing you’re finally done for the day, is euphoric. But our family’s life isn’t perfect. Days can be rough and long, and sometimes life is just too much. …show more content…

Our marble table, in its own special room, is a place of healing in its own right. Every member of our family has cried there more times then I can remember. Looking back, however, that marble table top is a place of more joy and more intellect than anywhere else I know. My dad’s witty anecdotes and commentary on life bring us to tears, and we laugh until our bellies hurt. My mom quotes New York Times articles from memory, provoking thoughtful discussions about the current state of our nation. Everyone has their own distinct and honest perspective, and before we know it, the glowing clock on the microwave says we’ve been sitting for two

Show More
Related

  • Death Ushers Grief in “Whoever We Are, Loss Finds us and Defines Us” by Anna Quindlen

    849 Words  | 2 Pages

    In her article, Quindlen delivers her position to the massive mixed audience of the New York Times, drawing in readers with an emotional and humanizing lure; opening up about her family life and the deaths she endured. Later presenting the loss of her brother's wife and motherless children, Quindlen use this moment to start the engine of her position. Quindlen uses her experiences coupled with other authority figures, such as, the poet Emily Dickenson, Sherwin Nuland, doctor and professor from Yale, author Hope Edelman, and the President. These testimonies all connect to the lasting effects of death on the living, grief. She comes full circle, returning to her recently deceased sister-in-law; begging t...

    Read More

  • Analysis: The Approximate Size Of My Favorite Tumor

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor,” Alexie explores humor as a strategy for coping with tragedy. He shows both sides of using dark humor to get through difficult situations. In this work, the author suggests that humor can be a very effective weapon against despair but people need to be careful how they use it because too much dark humor can dehumanize the very individuals it is supposed to help. To me, it is this kind of dark humor that reminds us of who we are, how little we actually control, and why it all matters

    Read More

  • The Duality Of Life In Amy Hempels 'Short Story Going'

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Amy Hempels’ Short Story “Going,” our journey with the narrator travels through loss, coping, memory, experience, and the duality of life. Throughout the story is the narrator’s struggle to cope with the passing of his mother, and how he transitions from a mixture of depression, denial, and anger, into a kind of acceptance and revelation. The narrator has lost his mother in a fire three states away, and proceeds on a reckless journey through the desert, when he crashes his car and finds himself hospitalized. Only his thoughts and the occasional nurse to keep him company. The narrator soon gains a level of discovery and realizations that lead to a higher understanding of the duality of life and death, and all of the experiences that come with being alive.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of My Mother Pieced Quilts

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “My Mother Pieced Quilts”, Teresa Palomo Acosta shares memories of her mother making quilts. As she is remembering she talks of,” lounging” on her mother’s arm while her mother sews,” somber black silk,” from her,” grandmother’s funeral” (73 Acosta). While this memory at first brings an air of sadness and the reminder of death, it also provides a glimpse into how Teresa has been shaped by this memory that within sadness there is also comfort.

    Read More

  • The differences of the 50s and the 90s

    572 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today, families have very busy lives. They deal with family members on different schedules. Meals are generally served sporadically, depending on who needs what when. Fifty years ago, dinner was set at a certain time. Family members were expected to be there, and schedules worked around meals. No one watched television while they ate dinner, and the dinner conversation focus was on what happened during the day.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Family In The Grapes Of Wrath

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the Great Depression, there was a massive migration from rural areas to more populated areas. During this era the Joad family decided to migrate from Oklahoma to California in search of work. As the Joad family traveled to California, the Grandfather dies. During this rough time, Ma helps comfort Grandma over her husband’s death. Ma knew that if Grandma was understanding and accepting of Grandpa’s death, the family would use that courage and her example to get through the mourning period faster. “She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken. And since Tom and the children could not know hurt or fear unless she acknowledged hurt and fear, she has practiced denying them in herself. And since, when a joyful thing happened, they looked to see whether joy was on her, it was her habit to build up laughter out of inadequate materials” ( Steinbeck 48). The mourning period went by quickly because Ma showed strength in herself and in the family.

    Read More

  • The Tradition of Thanksgiving

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    Being part of an eight-child family, I enjoy Thanksgiving with 30+ members and, although several have come and gone, it seems a new face takes their place with a marriage or the birth of a child, ever perpetuating the life circle that is my family. Last Thanksgiving, we lost one member to death but gained another through birth and one more through marriage, decreasing the room in the kitchen by one and adding one more high chair to the table downstairs.

    Read More

  • Thanksgiving Dinner

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even though it was many years ago, I vividly remember my first Thanksgiving dinner. I was a little kid, no older than the age of seven. I flew in that day from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where we had attended a special ceremony honoring my uncle. As a result of the hectic flight schedule, I did not have the opportunity to eat very much that day, and I was eagerly anticipating the Thanksgiving dinner. We arrived at my grandparent’s house around six thirty in the evening. As soon as I entered the house, the tremendous aroma of all the foods filled the air and my taste buds began salivating in anticipation for the meal. Normally at family meals the food came out in courses, appetizers followed by the entrée. However, this time all the food came out at once. I immediately reached for the turkey and proceeded to take a huge slab of meat for my plate. Coupled with gravy, the turkey seemed irresistible. It was a big piece of dark meat, roasted to perfection. The skin had some sort of spice on it. I don’t recall the name of the spice, but I can tell you that the spice was sharp. Yes sharp, I think that’s the best way to describe it. After my first bite I found myself reaching for the nearest cup of water. However, after I got used to the spice, I began to realize its incredible taste. In less than ten minutes, I proceeded to wolf down this massive chunk of turkey.

    Read More

  • Pain In Rock And A Hard Place By Angie Stanton

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sometimes, pain can be so overwhelming, that people feel that happiness is something that they don’t deserve. Eventually, with the right guidance, it is easier to let go of the pain and start over, while creating a new path in life. In the novel, Rock and a Hard Place, the protagonist Libby has lost everyone she has ever loved in her life. Her mother and younger sister both died in a car accident, and her emotionally unstable father left her in a new town with her abusive aunt. Libby hides from her pain by isolating the world and everyone in it. Through the characterization of Libby, Angie Stanton is able to capture the reality of pain. As people, it is hard to communicate pain, because it hurts too much. People choose to give out their trust

    Read More

  • Comparing Poems 'Nurse And Eating Together' By Li-Young Lee

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    Traditionally families have dinner together and talk about their day. In the modern days many families don't even eat at a dinner table, My family normally spends dinner time all over the house. Nobody really sit down at the dinner table to eat and talk and explain our thoughts and feelings about our day. In the poems "Nurse" by Dorianne Laux and "Eating together" by Li-Young Lee they both demonstrates the importance of your family and enjoying every moment that you encounter with each other.

    Read More

  • Thanksgiving: A Thanksgiving Day In My Family

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is a strong aroma of turkey cooking slowly, brownish gravy bubbling in the pot, and just a hint of sweet, savory cranberry sauce filling the air. All these smells gathering together is causing an overpowering feeling of hunger. The kitchen is filled with activity as my mother and father move throughout the kitchen as if they were racing against the clock. I, along with my two sisters are found in the dining room setting up the big, darkly stained dining room table with the fine china plates that we only use once a year. You know, the ones with the intricate designs of flowers wrapping around each other, etched around the entirety of each individual glass, plate, and dish. It is Thanksgiving morning in my house and every year it starts

    Read More

  • When I Woke Up Friday

    1800 Words  | 4 Pages

    When individuals are affected by traumatic events, their minds internalize these experiences due to the impact that such incidents have on them. When dealing with the effects of the trauma, these individuals must confront the issues they face as a result of the trauma and manage the effects on their daily lives, or the trauma will act as a barrier that prevents them from finding a sense of self. In her essay “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday,” Martha Stout focuses on detailing her interactions with Julia, one of Stout’s patients who experienced severe trauma during her childhood, and in doing so makes the point that Julia’s mind was not present for most of her childhood as a result of the trauma, preventing her from accessing the

    Read More

  • Holden Calufield Humor

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    Virginia Satir, author of The New People Making, stated that “problems are not the problem; coping is the problem,” providing a précis of the general human response to unnerving circumstances. Coping is not only an alien experience when discomfort first strikes, but it is often implemented through paradoxical methods. Humor, the denoted opposite of grief, irritation, and all things serious is one of these peculiar mechanisms. Other authors, namely J.D. Salinger of the late 20th century, have taken this concept into account and used it to add depth and tones of universality to their writings. Humor does not require the most disparaging of situations, but can applied anywhere in the contexts of surgeons dealing with dying patients to students

    Read More

  • Moana Belonging

    498 Words  | 1 Pages

    only the greatest demi-god in all of the Pacific Islands Holds a heart to Tufiti , Moana has to recover the lost heart and bring it back to Tufiti. Ron Clements has other good films like , Aladdin, The little mermaid , Hercules and more. About two thousand years ago , in the central pacific ocean , island nations of Fiji , Samoa. Actress Auliʻi Cravalho is an singer , She made her acting debut as the title character in the 2016 film Moana , This is her first time acting in the any film. Dwayne Douglas Johnson, also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor, producer.

    Read More

  • My Tear

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever been crippled or felt so incapable of something? Has anything felt so empowering that you didn’t know what to do or how to tackle the situation? Have you ever felt so much pain where it seemed like it immobilized your body? Have you ever felt so depressed that you really didn’t know where the source of depression was coming from? These are the questions that come to my mind when I think about each and every tear that ever hits my face. I wonder how many tears are actually hitting my face, how many actually seep into my skin. I wonder if people think the same way that I think or it they sometimes feel the same way that I feel. Many words often loose their connotation. A tear to me is no longer a tear. A tear to me is history. It is the constant reminder of hurt, that sometimes spreads its way through my body.

    Read More

More about I Believe In The Power Of A Family Dinner

Open Document