little things

The past few weeks in my tiny town have been a bit of a roller coaster.   A young family had to say goodbye to a husband, father and all around great guy after a courageous battle with cancer.  As our community came together in this terrible time of loss it has also caused all of us to look at our own families a little closer and hold them a little tighter.  We all get so busy doing our day to day and running from here to there we often miss the simple things that happen every day.

One of the perks of being married to a farmer is that there is little travel involved so we are able to have dinner together many nights (except during harvest!).  It's a simple thing that I have never thought much of and mostly appreciated because it meant there was another referee at the table with me.   Our dinners usually comprise of talking about our day and our plans for the next day.  I knew this was a good habit for my kids and hoped it would pay off when they become tweens and teens that don't want to tell their parents anything.


Last week we were skiing and my little guy and I took a break to get a snack.  As we sat down at the table in the lodge and I doled out the goldfish he looked up at me and said "so mom, how was your day."  He said it with such sincerity and with a genuine interest in my response.  It was at that moment I realized how important our family dinner chats are and what they are teaching my children.

 Whether it a family dinner, a car ride ritual,  or a bedtime routine I think we all need to remember that all those 'little things' we do mean a lot.