Dinner Surprise by Konnie Enos

For the last couple of years in my household it has become increasingly harder to have a family dinner.

Now I know what you’re thinking.

I have teenagers. They are always busy and would rather spend time with their friends.

No. That isn’t the problem.

Around here the problem is diets.

No. Not the losing weights type of diets, though I am attempting to lose weight, but rather the medically necessary types of diets.

There are six people in this household. Fully half of us have restricted diets. And none of our diets are the same. So to get a meal on the table I would have to accommodate four different meal plans in order to make sure everyone had something they could eat (well, and the boys would eat). So family meals just went by the wayside. It was too hard to accommodate everyone.

Now even when I do try to fix dinner for the family my sons would rather get something for themselves, or only eat part of what I fixed (example: the entre but not the side dishes I fixed to go with it, or the side dishes but not the entre.) While my daughters have to pick and choose. One can’t have the meat, like at all. She’s now vegetarian, not to mention all she’s allergic too. And the other one can only have certain food, on a very short list. Believe me her medical condition is not fun.

So the other night when I went to make dinner I wasn’t thinking about what all my kids could eat. In fact, I only asked my husband what he’d want for dinner. Once I had his order, I proceeded to cook it.

He requested baked potatoes.

Okay, I’ll cook four, then we can have leftovers if none of the kids want them.

He also wanted hamburgers. Yeah, weird combination with baked potatoes, but okay. I went with four again. Either leftovers or maybe a kid or two.

He desired green beans too. Okay. I fixed dinner.

When everything was cooked. I fixed two plates. One for me and one for my dear husband.

I told my youngest son he could have any of the food he wanted.

He took one of the hamburger patties, got some bread and, well, made a hamburger.

I told my youngest daughter there were baked potatoes if she wanted one. She took one

I told my other son there was food.

He did the same thing his younger brother did.

Then my oldest child at home came out and her sister pointed out the last potato. I confirmed she could have it if she wanted.

Finally my husband came out to get his food.

I looked around the table.

“Unbelievable. I actually made dinner for all of us.”

My oldest child and boys never touched the green beans. My boys never touched the potatoes and my girls never touched the meat. So four hamburger patties and four baked potatoes fed six people.

I was amazed.

If you’d been in our house anytime in the last two years and seen the struggle it was to get a family dinner on the table you would understand why I found that simple meal so amazing.

The other thing I’ve found amazing this week is my baby is now a whopping sixteen years old. Not only that, but that big baby boy has turned into the biggest family member. Well, our immediate family, so it wouldn’t be that hard to be the tallest, though he is 5”9’. Nice to have someone to reach the top shelves and change the lightbulbs for me.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.