Lunches with grandpa are more than just a memory. I can still hear my grandfather’s voice and see him sitting at the kitchen table as we ate lunch together. These are some of my most cherished memories. From the time I was in kindergarten until I moved away, I would walk a block from my school every day to have lunch at my grandparents house. Grandma Claudia always had lunch on the table and my grandfather always came home from the office.
Every day.
It wasn’t fancy. It wasn’t planned to become a treasured memory. It was simply what we did. My grandpa Wayne was a business owner. To say he was busy is an understatement. Even so, he would leave work every day and meet me for lunch. Grandma always prepared a well-rounded lunch. The intentionality they both took for those moments still stays with me today.
After lunch, Grandpa would head back to work, and I would walk back to school. At the time, it all seemed so ordinary. Now I realize it was anything but.
Those lunches quietly taught me what faithfulness looks like. They taught me that love is often expressed through showing up again and again. They taught me that a home doesn’t become meaningful because it is large or impressive, but because it is filled with people who make room for one another.
I can still picture Grandma moving around the kitchen with ease, preparing another meal from scratch without complaint or fanfare. I can see her in so many beautiful aprons she wore. She wore aprons out of necessity as she always cared for herself and dressed every morning, even her make-up. The aprons protected her clothing, but the aprons were just as beautiful.
Hospitality wasn’t something she practiced only when company came. It was simply woven into the fabric of her daily life.
Grandpa never made me feel like I was interrupting his day or that being home for lunch was an inconvenience. Looking back, I realize he was actually giving up part of his day to spend lunch with his granddaughter. At the time, I simply just thought that was what grandparents do.
Now I understand it was a gift.
Children rarely recognize they’re living the moments they’ll one day treasure most. We assume tomorrow will look just like today. We don’t realize that ordinary days become cherished memories later.
As adults we spend so much time trying to create extraordinary experiences that we sometimes overlook the wonderful gift of today in the moment. So many people, especially women, are constantly aware and bothered by making every moment picture perfect so they can post it for the world to see. I believe you lose so much authenticity when you live like that. You miss the moment that is right before you.
A meal around the table surrounded by family. A walk down the sidewalk. A grandfather who always showed up for lunch. A grandmother who always had lunch waiting.
Those simple rhythms formed something in me that has lasted a lifetime.
When I think about heritage, I don’t think first of heirlooms or family trees. I think of people. I think of routines. It think of everyday acts of love repeated so consistently that they quietly shaped the person I would become.
Those lunches taught me that home is built one meal, one conversation, and one faithful day at a time.
Perhaps that is why I still believe there is something sacred about gathering around a table. Growing up my family ate dinner every night together at the dinner table and we talked.
Some of the greatest gifts we give our families will never make history books. They will simply live on in someone’s memory decades from now, when they remember that someone was there, that someone showed up.
I’m grateful for those lunches that my grandpa always showed up for. Little did he know at the time that these lunches would not just become a memory but a treasured legacy that helped form the woman I am today.
I hope these letters make you stop and think back and realize the moments that have shaped who you are, and the people who showed up in your life time and time again. I realize that not everyone has had the blessing of someone always showing up; but you can decide to be the blessing to someone else and be the person who always shows up. You never know the life or person you will impact, or the next generation you are helping form.