We had a short visit with friends from New Mexico who were visiting their Ohio grandchildren last week and their daughter cooked a sit-down, home cooked meal for all of us. This meant that we did NOT have to take three children out on a cold night to wait for a table and then try to catch up over the music, crowd noise, dining clatter at a moderately priced restaurant. We were able to let the children play while we sat around the table and visited in a deep and meaningful way. The gift of dinner in was greatly appreciated by us.

Afterwards, we talked about how rare it is to eat a meal at someone’s house anymore. We tend to meet people at restaurants and split the bill as evenly as possible. We usually have people over but that’s because we are trying to live simply and it cost a lot less for me to cook than for all of us to go out. In the last four years, other than family, we’ve eaten at other people’s houses less than the number of fingers on one hand. Yet, each time was memorable and valuable. Hmmm……