Sunday Lunches.
I’ve had people ask me before, “What do you value the most?” People that know me might say I value theatre, superheroes, or video games the most. But people who really know me would know that I value my family above all else. My entire family used to be extremely close. We are pretty small, so it wasn’t hard to find a time for all fifteen of us to get together. We would spend every major holiday together. My grandparents lived right around the corner. Thanksgiving was always done at my Grandmother’s house. We called her B, short for Betty. Christmas Eve was always at my house and then Christmas Day was back at B’s. The holidays were great but there was one day in particular that was my favorite, and that was Sunday. Every Sunday. We had Sunday lunch at B’s house every week. Most of the time it was just my immediate family and my grandparents, because my cousins lived in both Austin and Stillwater, OK respectively. However, they came in town fairly often for Sunday lunches. We would leave church around noon and go on over to B’s to get ready. This meant so much to me as a kid. I loved my family. And I loved how close we were.
Everything changed in 2009. B became sick in the spring of ’09. The matriarch of our family was dying. She passed away on June 4th that summer. That first Thanksgiving without her was the hardest. Christmas was even worse. I remember lying in my bed crying on Christmas Eve because I missed her so much. The following year the family wasn’t all together for the holidays. Sunday lunches were a thing of the past, we drifted. My grandfather remarried in 2011. And that made everything worse. I don’t remember the last time he was in town for my birthday.
Through all of this, my parents, my brother, and I all became closer. My Dad’s sister and her husband and daughter are our closest relatives now. My family has grown some since 2009, but if anything it feels smaller. My other grandmother passed away in July of 2013. For awhile I felt very alone. The two strongest women in my life were gone. But something new is happening.
My brother proposed to his girlfriend of twelve years on May 10th, 2013. The wedding is scheduled for May 30th, 2014. The best part is, her family is massive. My small family is about to be linked to one of the biggest and most loving families I have ever known. There is a reason I value family above everything else. This past summer, for the first time since 2009, my parents hosted a Sunday lunch. Everyone came, and it was pure bliss. Family is something to be cherished. Love the ones you have while they are around.
