Make the world go round

One morning last week my daughter was up early, but didn’t have to run off to class or her volunteer position, so she joined my husband and I as we made our lunches.

Almost every work morning, my husband and I make our lunches. We have the dance down, always managing to be in step with each other at the refrigerator or getting something from the cabinet. It’s one of my favorite times of the day. It’s this little piece of home where work hasn’t encroached and the sleep inertia has been lifted. It’s a time where we get to talk about what we have planned for the day, or to start making plans for the coming weekend, or some crazy thing one of us saw on Twitter or Facebook.

This routine could easily be completed in 10 minutes, but often we drag it out lingering for as many as 30 minutes spending this special time together. On this occasion, we were discussing how we could honor my husband’s father on the one year anniversary of his passing, and I’d had an email from my dad announcing the marriage of their friends which gave us a wide spectrum to discuss.

Our daughter wasn’t making lunch, and I don’t think she’d even intended to stay up after she’d answered nature’s call. She sat at the breakfast counter while we prepared our lunches and shared in our discussions with us.

There is something special about starting the morning with people you love most, talking about the people you’ve loved and lost, and brainstorming exciting plans for dear friends. It’s too easy to get caught up in the task lists, the job duties, the homework and commitments, the bills and the chores.

A family dinner used to serve this role of connecting family members, but these days there aren’t many family dinners being hosted. I carried an uncommonly light heart with me to work after starting the day in this way. It reminds me to take the opportunity, whenever you’re presented with it, to connect with your loved ones, build on the relationships, in whatever small ways you can, and do it regularly.

My daughter is not normally a part of this bonding. I have been motivated to reintroduce some element of this through a regular family dinner, breakfast, or lunch. I can see us sitting  with no distractions or interruptions, just being together, building memories and connecting to cement the strong bond that we’ve built over the years.

I encourage you to take note when you see this happening in your own family. Look for places to make it happen.

Do you commute, or drop your kids off at school, or sports practice or lessons? How do you spend that time right now? Could you be connecting with your family instead?

Do you find yourself eating out at fast food, or even sit down restaurants more often than you want? Do you treat that time as though it was Sunday family dinner? Why not?

Find time. You won’t regret it.