Sunday lunch is a traditional at my parents’ house. My mom worked very hard to make it so. Sometimes there were just the six of us. Sometimes there were so many people we had to pull out card tables. I still don’t understand how my mom managed it all. But after all those years of flouring chicken, frying green tomatoes, cooked cornbread, and baking cobblers, she passed on something to me that I hold dear. It is more than eating good food. It is a couple of hours sitting at a table with people you love and who love you in return.

I hold this traditional very dear, so much so that I have tried to replicate it with my own family. It started with just the four of us…or three at the time. Then is involved another family and we’d switch hosting from week to week. Then our friend Ally started coming over. Shortly later she began bringing her boyfriend, Stephen, who later began bringing his roommate, Nick. They have become staples at our table on Sunday and during the week. 
They bring laughter and entertainment and joy in the door with them. And when they can’t be here, it is felt.

Who knew a simple meal on Sunday could bring five people so close together?

From Back to Front: Nick, Ally, Stephen