Last weekend our family reaped the benefits of a great meal. When the night was over with our wonderful friends, they sent enough food home (delicious enchiladas) for an entire meal for our family!
When this happens in my home, I have to warn the family the next day, NO TOUCHING. Because we love leftovers, I have to be a stickler about it when I’m counting on a night off from cooking!
One of the blessings that came from that evening was when our host’s 80 year-old mother, Margaret, joined us. That was a real treat for all of us.
A little background is that our almost 18 year-old son works in a retirement home, as a food server, and one benefit is that he gets to be around some great older people! They all have a story to tell, with interesting lives, and most of them love the younger kids.
Margaret agreed that the younger men that are hired really seem to bring the residents joy, and noted how helpful those young waiters are to her and her people. My husband pointed out to her that the older people also make a contribution to the younger people, one they don’t realize. The seniors have a solid, time tested orientation toward life that the kids can learn much from.
And those long-reaching observations are what makes life valuable and worth living!
Many more meaningful conversations took place, an evening that centered on a meal that eventually became leftovers and dinner the next night. But this post has a deeper meaning, one that I’m passionate about. Food sometimes tastes better when we mix it up. The younger and the older.
Has your family reaped the blessings that come by mixing ages around your dinner table?
Hi, I'm Sandy. Five years ago I stocked up on beautiful glasses from the Dollar Store. As I started writing about dinner parties, I realized that this “icon” portrays a great message. It says that dinner parties are attainable, they are affordable, and that they can be beautiful even when on a budget. 
Awee Sandy that is such a beautiful post. I love visiting with older folks. Throughout the year when we go and visit my husbands grandmother at the nursing home. Well we sit and visit and have such a great time. Sometimes dh has to come and pull me out because he says you talk with everyone and visit its time to go. I love sitting and talking and dishing about foods and the quilts that make and all abotut their children and where they are from. It is so fullfilling just to listen. It brings such a smile to me and them. They are filled with such wisdom.
.-= Tina @ Mommy’s Kitchen´s last blog ..Yummy Super Bowl Food Ideas =-.
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Lovely post.
Our tables have always had two generations (and sometimes 3) and it makes for fascinating dinner conversation. The problem is some don’t listen. They are missing so much.
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What a beautiful post Sandy! Yes, we are lucky at times to be able to have the young and the “older” ones together at the dinner table and it’s always enjoyable. There are so many valuable lessons to be learned from the elderly, if only we take the time to listen (and I’m also referring to the teenagers taking the time to listen to us, they’re elders! )
.-= Linda´s last blog ..It’s Friday =-.
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Hey friend! My grandmother lives in a home like this and she has a day nurse who is assigned to her. Aida is a lovely Filipino woman and as a result of her sweet and loving care, we’ve befriended her whole family. So, not only do we have a number of “family” dinners of mixed ages, but also of mixed cultures. It’s a real treat!
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From the elder’s point of view, having young people around keeps us on our toes. Our GD is an only child so we often let her invite a friend when she spends time with us. So often the girls seem in awe – not that we have or do anything fancy – just in awe that we can actually carry on a normal – and dare I say fun – conversation with them, that we enjoy their company. I suspect many children are without grandparents nearby and don’t know what to expect.
Darla
.-= Darla´s last blog ..It Was A Sunny Sunday =-.
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