The Blessing of Dinner Together

"How to announce the return of comfort and well - being except by cooking something fragrant. That is what her mother always did. After every calamity of any significance she would fill the atmosphere of the house with the smell of cinnamon rolls or brownies, or with chicken and dumplings, and it would mean, This house has a soul that loves us all, no matter what. It would mean peace if they had fought and amnesty if they had been in trouble. It had meant, You can come down to dinner now, and no one will say a thing to bother you, unless you have forgotten to wash your hands. And her father would offer the grace, inevitable with minor variations, thanking the Lord for all the wonderful faces he saw around his table. " Excerpt from Home by Maryilynne Robinson

I loved this quote because it spoke of the very real connectiveness that family meals bring to the home. They mean something. It is not just food for the body. It speaks to each of us of things that are normal and good. It is brings us together as a family from very different places, activities, thoughts, and moods and unites us back together. Nothing else does this or comes close to doing this like dinner.