My family typically does Sunday evening dinners at my parents house. Whenever we can and the schedule permits, it is just something that we do. My grandmother has had this sort of thing occur every weekend since I was a young boy. When we were over there, all of our extended family would show up on Sundays to drop in for a bite to eat and just to say hello.
I don't know if this is then a maritime tradition, or a small town type tradition, but it's definitely a good one. Our kids look forward to raiding Grams treat cupboard upon arrival. Gibson heads for the treat closet of his own and waits for his jumbo milkbone; and Kelly and I generally have a glass of wine in hand within 15 minutes. It's just a nice way to end/start the week depending on how you judge day 1 or day 7.
These days it's more important than ever to stay connected to family and maybe not so connected to the internet. If you have the ability and your family is within sensible driving distance it makes sense to take a timeout from the rest of life and just spend some time together. I was just speaking to a friend of mine who moved back home after leaving home around the age of 19. He told me that since he has been back around 3 years ago, he hasn't missed a day of going to spend some time with his mother. What a great story. The thing that has become apparent to me over the past month is the appreciation of time. You can never get time back. It's the most valuable currency we have. You can take a pair of pants back to the store; you can get cancellation insurance on a trip; you can end up with a free dinner if you didn't get what you ordered....but you can't get time back. There is a strict no refund policy on that. I have been more cognizant of that lately.
When you let that settle into your mind, you begin to get present and stay present for more things. I played a couple of solo acoustic shows over the weekend. With that presence in mind...each song became extremely important. Beyond that, each verse, each chorus, and each strum on a granular level became more present and precise. It made an immediate impact on the show because I was cognizant of the time that people were spending to sit there and listen. I wasn't concerned with how many, nor the ticket price, etc..just really giving them every bit of everything I had for the full show.
I tried it again this morning at breakfast. I tried to focus on every bite that I took. What a difference! When your mind is not wandering absentmindedly and you focus on what you are doing it's a huge difference. Imagine that, being focused makes your level of appreciation go higher. What a novel concept. It's easy to skate by with a ton of useless things on your mind these days. I would challenge anyone to actually sit and be present at your next meal, in your next conversation, or even as you sit in solitude and read some hillbilly songwriters blog.
Presently, I am finishing this one here so that I an go enjoy the Sunday evening that we look forward to every week.