{"id":9414,"date":"2012-09-15T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marydeturrispoust.com\/NSS\/2012\/10\/heres-something-to-talk-about-over-dinner\/"},"modified":"2022-04-25T21:27:28","modified_gmt":"2022-04-26T01:27:28","slug":"heres-something-to-talk-about-over-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/heres-something-to-talk-about-over-dinner\/","title":{"rendered":"Here&#8217;s something to talk about over dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Just realized I never posted my September Life Lines column. Here you go&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>We were sitting at the dinner table the other night<\/strong>, passing bowls of pasta and salad back and forth, when the kids asked if we could pull a card from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.loyolapress.com\/the-meal-box.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cThe Meal Box\u201d<\/a> (Loyola Press), a deck of 52 cards with questions designed to prompt interesting dinner conversation among family members. I had originally used it as part of a product review I was writing, but it ended up being a hit with the kids, so it stuck. And it sure beats fighting over who didn\u2019t empty the cat litter and who didn\u2019t put away toys in between bites of food.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Typically the cards are exercises in creative thinking. Here\u2019s one of our favorite questions: \u201cIf you could build a private bridge or tunnel that would take you directly from your home to any place at all, what would it connect you to?\u201d Two people chose Rome &#8212; one directly to St. Peter&#8217;s. (Gee, I wonder who that was?) Two people chose Paris &#8212; one directly to the Louvre and the other with a special exit allowing her to head to Grandpa and Grandma&#8217;s house in New Jersey at will, and one chose Disney World.<\/p>\n<p>Then there was the question about what background noise you would choose to be constantly playing in your head? Dennis and I both picked the ocean. Noah picked his iTunes library (shocking). Olivia picked the ocean as well, and Chiara picked birds, which we unanimously decided would definitely not include crows. \u2028\u2028But the last time we did the Meal Box, we were in for a bit of a surprise, and, I have to admit, a little discomfort. Each of us had to go around the table and say the thing we consider most special about every other person. There was a moment of awkward silence as everyone stared down at our plates. This was a serious question, one where Disney World couldn\u2019t be the easy answer.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis got the ball rolling with some thoughtful observations about yours truly and our three children \u2013 one who confronts his fears with determination, one who approaches every single day with joy, and one who is totally fearless. Then it was my turn. As you can imagine, this exercise gets harder and harder the farther down the line you go because all the good stuff gets taken. But it was easy to hone in on my youngest daughter\u2019s sweet disposition and snuggly demeanor, my middle child\u2019s role as a true Renaissance girl interested in \u2013 and good at \u2013 just about everything, and my teen\u2019s high standards and ideals \u2013 for himself and for our world.<\/p>\n<p>Then came the moment of truth: The kids had to say nice things about each other and about us. As we slowly went around the table with some silly answers mixed in with the serious stuff, I could feel tears welling up. Olivia told Chiara she was special because she is funny and is always there for her. Chiara told Olivia she\u2019s special because she plays with her all the time. Noah said I was special because I\u2019m always supportive of him, and Dennis is special because he teaches him what it means to be a man.\u00a0 Added to the mix were comments about my bringing spirituality to our home, Dennis\u2019 willingness to do everything he can for our family, and, I think, even a comment about my curly hair.<\/p>\n<p>For at least ten minutes we went around saying nice things about each other. That\u2019s not a bad return on a little deck of cards. And the seriousness of that particular draw didn\u2019t scare the kids off; they were clamoring for another card the next night.<\/p>\n<p>Try it tonight at your own table. Have everyone say what they love most about every other person. You just might be surprised and teary-eyed by the time dinner is over. And not because someone spilled a glass of milk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just realized I never posted my September Life Lines column. Here you go&#8230; We were sitting at the dinner table the other night, passing bowls of pasta and salad back [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[121],"tags":[222,42,101],"class_list":["post-9414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-lines","tag-dinner","tag-family","tag-life-lines"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Here&#039;s something to talk about over dinner &#8211; Not Strictly Spiritual<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/notstrictlyspiritual.com\/life-lines\/heres-something-to-talk-about-over-dinner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Here&#039;s something to talk about over dinner &#8211; Not Strictly Spiritual\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just realized I never posted my September Life Lines column. 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