Family Dinner: A Lost Art or a Choice?

8 days ago (Edited)

Everyone of us was born in a family and every family has their traditions be yet making time to hang out with each other, going on vacations with the family and many more. I was born in a big house where most of my family members stayed. I grew up with my cousins, uncles and aunties and so many visitors from time to time. ![](

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As someone who grew up in such a household, I experienced so many traditions along the line. After a long day at work, everyone would come out and sit under the huge mango tree in our compound to enjoy the fresh breeze and also spend time with each other. It was a tradition everyone as used to. The adults at one side and the kids playing at another side until we fell asleep. Aside that, eating together was a thing for us. We all ate from the same pot because we are a family and our religion also advises us to eat together as there’s blessing in it.

One thing I always looked forward to was eating with either my dad, my grandfather or my grandmother because with them, I get to eat a lot of meat. What I dreaded most was eating with my cousins. As much as it was fun, we always ended up fighting and eating little to nothing. I can vividly remember crying to my aunty telling her my cousins are all the food and I was still hungry. Those days, we were kids and you know how kids can be. As we grew up, we started eating in a more comfortable way instead of away fighting like we were cats and dogs. Actually, funny enough, these are the days that made me miss my childhood because we suddenly just grew up.

After sometime, my dad had his own house and we moved from our family house to our own house. For a start, it wasn’t as fun as it was back at our old place because we were just a small family staying together. We at least had our privacy to some extent and we kept on eating together as a family and holding on to our family traditions. After a few years time,all of us in our little family got busy. My parents was busy with work, my brother was at the university, my sister was also out there doing her own stuff and I moved away from home to the university also. We barely had time to eat together because on most days we all got home at different times.

There is always food at home and anyone who arrived early can eat when they feel hungry. Sometimes it felt lonely eating alone and I for one enjoy eating with others more than eating alone. It’s makes me it more than I would do if I was alone. However, even with our busy schedules, we still made time on weekends, holidays and in other events to spend time together as a family, eat as one and chat. It’s the least we can really do for ourselves as a family in this busy world of ours.

Currently, I’m far away from home living my own life somewhere. For a while, it was lonely but with time I started to make friends who have grown to be a family to me over here. Most days, we eat together from one bowl just like I used to do with my family back at home. We are not family by blood, but these amazing people are the closest to family I have over here. Through these moments, we tend to build very strong bonds, make memories and also have fun. That’s the beauty of life.

all images belong to me.