Sundays are meant for napping, avoiding responsibilities and enjoying Sunday dinner, and anyone who disagrees simply isn’t spending their Sundays correctly.
My favorite of the three sacred Sunday activities would definitely be Sunday dinner, mostly because I enjoy consuming food and Sunday dinner is the definition of a good, traditional home-cooked meal.
Ever since I can remember, Sunday evenings have been spent gathered round the dinner table at my grandmother’s house enjoying family time and a plethora of food.
My Grandma really goes all out with her meals with mashed potatoes, roast beef, gravy – you name it.
I also don’t really know why my Grandma thinks she needs to make a dozen sides for each dinner, but I’m not complaining because I get to enjoy crescent rolls, veggies and special homemade applesauce every week.
And of course you can’t forget about dessert, usually homemade cake or pie complete with caramel and chocolate sauce.
Even though Sunday dinner usually consists of six people, my Grandma makes way too much food every time. This is great news for me, though, considering I get to live off leftovers for a solid week at school.
When I stop and think about how much time and effort my Grandma puts into each dinner it is insane.
On a good day I’ll spend 20 minutes cooking a mini pizza for dinner; other than that it usually takes a minute to make some toast or heat up a TV dinner. I have absolutely no idea how to make an actual meal, but let’s save that pathetic explanation for another column.
The point is that my Grandma has brought my family together almost every week for 20 years with mashed potatoes and gravy – and that’s pretty cool.
I know that all of her hard work comes from love and every meal is special because of it.
After dinner on Sunday evening I spent some time looking at old photographs collected by my Grandma over the years.
There were pictures of my grandparents in high school, pictures of my mom’s horrendous ‘80s hair perm and of course stacks of baby pictures of me.
At first I thought my Grandma was just an O.G. hipster for having a bunch of Polaroid pictures of me as a baby but then I found out that she used to take Polaroids because she wanted to show everyone the photos right away and she couldn’t wait to get them developed. That’s when you know your grandma loves you. A lot.
I’m very fortunate to have come from a family with a lot of love. Both my sets of grandparents are very supportive of my sister and me, and they think we are the greatest things ever, as most grandparents do.
As I get older I admire my grandparents more and more each day. I think about all the orthodontist appointments they drove me to, all the volleyball matches they sat through and all the encouragement they’ve given me with everything I’ve pursued.
All the time I’ve spent away at school has helped me further appreciate everything my grandparents have done for me and it makes me want to spend more time with them.
I suppose that’s why I find myself returning home to Grammy’s house almost every Sunday evening. Well, that and the mashed potatoes.
OLIVIA BURGER
