STAYING TOGETHER

My mum would always say whenever she is about to force us to sit in one place for dinner ”A family that eats together stays together” Then I did not give much thought to it, I would just grumble and sit down while others talk. I would often mind my business while my siblings would talk and talk, but today when I think about it, I miss those times. It’s been very long since I went home, so yeah it’s been very long since I ate with my family. Now it’s just my sister and I living together, but we hardly eat together because the only time we are often around is in the night when I come home from work while she’s busy baking or taking a client's order. I would have to eat without her and she eats afterwards. There are a few times though when we eat together, but it’s not like before when we wait for my dad to come home from work before we eat. It wasn’t as fun as it sounds because we were always waiting even though we were hungry. Sometimes we had to eat when it’s 9:00 PM and my dad wasn't back, until something happened that changed everything.

Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

A time came when after all the wait my dad would come home and we would still end up eating without him, it went one for some years and then it just continued as a norm. When my dad realized his mistake it was too late. My sister and I had already grown attached to my mum, and when he was around and wanted to eat with us, the whole house became dead silent. My younger siblings were not used to having him around when we eat, they did not know how to relate with him, it was as though he was a stranger in his own house and I did not understand it then, but I do now because it led to a whole lot of trouble. He would often say my mum turned us against him, but in the real sense, he stopped spending time with us, especially with my siblings who were still little at that time and grew older to notice only his attitude of not spending time with us.

This taught me the power of family meals, I discovered that even in my relationship, my partner has a habit of always waiting for me to eat, and the times we have little fights, that meal becomes an excuse to talk and settle because it’s useless eating angry with someone on the same plate. I have accommodated a good number of friends in my house, and I always ensure we eat together. The one time I had a friend who didn’t like it, I noticed how our relationship dwindled. Today my dad does not joke with meals, and my little siblings are becoming more free with him. But for myself and my sister, it hardly flows because we grew up to witness his previous attitude. This is why I unconsciously made it a habit of not just eating together, but eating from one plate with my partner, and I will do so with my kids too God willing.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S PROMPT FOR WEEK 177 EPISODE 1