I never thought this would be one thing I am seriously thankful for, but it is. Being born before the time that iPads silenced small children and headphones taught teenagers to tune out authority is truly a blessing in disguise. Our dining room chairs have more wear and tear on the seats than the couches in the living room. As soon as mom came home from work, we would go to the dinner table to begin our homework while she began to cook dinner.
Many times questions were solved across the kitchen by talking through problems, and we always saved the math and science for dad. When mom told us to, "Set the table," my brother and I would immediately stop whatever we were doing to clear off our homework, grab the forks, plates, and whatever else was necessary for the night's feast. Once we all sat down and said grace, mom would fix our plates and then her own. "School notes, anyone?" was the first real question asked other than, "Do you want green beans?"
This same routine happened five days out of the week. Yes, that's right, five. Monday through Friday (barring any sports games or academic team meets) there would be a hot, home cooked meal with conversation to always follow. This very table has been in my family for fifteen years. It's where I learned to keep my elbows off the table, to say, "yes, ma'am, no, sir" and most importantly where I learned how to have a proper conversation where you waited until the person speaking was finished, and to digest the thoughts that someone else created.
The dinner table was the happiest and scariest table that ever existed. I learned many hard lessons sitting catty-corner to my father as he explained that passing my test to my best friend in the first grade was not okay or when I stayed out three hours past curfew to spend time with a silly boy that almost cost me my senior prom. It's also where I received my first soccer scholarship offer, where my brother shared that his band was on iTunes, and where my parent's studied to further their education.
Too many times I see families while out to eat who keep their eyes on a screen instead of engaging in conversation with one another. It is so important that you not only set aside time for your family, but also for your friends to discover things you never knew, and to just enjoy the company that sits before you. No emojis, no GIFS, no memes to describe your feelings, just raw facial expressions and tone of voice. I often wonder how different I would be if my own family never sat down and had dinner together.
Even though my brother and I have left the nest, we still sit down for dinner when we are all home: elbows off the table, "Yes, ma'am, no, sir," and absolutely no cell phones. Dad will still ask for school notes, and I still get a lesson when I make a mistake that could have been avoided. To this day you can still see math problems, paragraphs, and shapes etched into the wood of the same dinner table where I learned so much about life just from conversations with the three people I admire most.
