Supper Time

Down here in the south we eat supper. To sup is to take food or drink by spoonfuls. Most people call the evening meal dinner. Old timers in the south still call it supper. I love supper time at our home. It is the one meal we still eat gathered around the table. We talk. Laugh. Swap stories. Enjoy sumptuous feasts prepared by the queen of our home. Sometimes we sit around and talk long after the meal is finished. I love supper with my family.

In the south we call lunch dinner. My family is scattered all over at dinner (lunch.) We typically eat breakfast at different times during the week except on Saturday. We typically eat breakfast together as a family on Saturday mornings. On some occasions we go get a cheap breakfast together and enjoy talking. I would not trade for the fellowship we enjoy as a family over meals both simple and elaborate.

Most families live in such a rush. They no longer eat supper together. On the rare occasion they share a meal it might be hunkered over TV trays watching television.

I recall the old standing rule in my house growing up. We had to be in by dark for supper. I can still hear my mother yelling from the front yard, "It's supper time!" Few things could pry me away from a ball game but when it came to supper time I typically came home running. We hate homemade cooked from scratch food. I never even heard of of a casserole until I went to college. My mother and grandmother worked hard to make our meals. Old recipes passed down from generation to generation. Some of those recipes I still have. One bite of those foods takes me back to the piney woods of east Texas and my childhood.

Brenda is a gourmet chef in our book. She knows the way into the hearts of all the men in her life, those four sons and myself. She cooks some of the best food you can imagine. I love watching the boys react when she cooks one of their favorite meals. For Taylor it is Mexican. Tanner loves Chinese. Tucker loves a simple meal of smoked sausage and fried potatoes. Turner loves chicken fried steak. They will get excited and usually there are no leftovers. Plates are licked clean. While I enjoy the food I enjoy our fellowship as a family more.

Each has an assigned seat. Tanner has an apartment on his own now back in Plainview. We miss him. Taylor's girl friend now sits where Tanner used to sit. The table is still full. The table is filled with laughter. Tucker usually keeps us in stitches. We relive old stories from their growing up years. Sometimes we discuss more serious matters. What matters to me is that we are together.

One day our once full table will dwindle down to just Brenda and I. She and I will supper together at the table. It will be quieter. I hope we still find reason to laugh. We will look forward to those days when the sons will come home with their families filling the house with activity. it will be a joyous time and we'll still enjoy supper time. We may have to have a bigger table but supper time will be the highlight of our evenings. I hope to pass on the supper tradition. A lot of good out of supper time.