Do you remember your first day of school? The memories, the excitement of getting to go back to class and seeing friends you didn’t see all summer and getting to wear new clothes.
When you become a parent, you get to relive those moments all over again. It may not be as exciting as your first day, but it’s still thrilling to see your children light up as they get ready to go back to school.
Once your children graduate and are living on their own, you don’t think about that first day in the same way. Your life is no longer wrapped around those nine months of homework and activities, but deep down you miss it. You miss being around people who share the same experiences when your kids are in school.
Now that I’m a Lola (grandmother), it has me thinking about it all over again. I just returned from visiting my son and grandson in California and while there, we attended church and I realized how much I miss certain things about having kids around.
During the church service, the pastor invited everyone to attend an upcoming potluck and game night. He said it would be a night of food and fellowship.
He said it wouldn’t just be any potluck, but one inspired by great literary works. Everyone was asked to bring a dish inspired by his or her favorite literary novel.
“Mmmm!” A dish inspired by my favorite literary work. My mind started racing, not because I planned on being at the church potluck, but rather about the idea of putting on a potluck dinner myself.
I already started thinking about a few books and the conversations that could start based on the dishes created. There are hundreds of books where the food is in the title— “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe,” “Like Water for Chocolate,” “Grapes of Wrath,” to name a few — or one where food is a literal theme — “Eat, Pray, Love,” “The Hunger Games,” “Under the Tuscan Sun.”
However, there is an endless list of possibilities of books for you to pick. Besides cooking, which I love to do, one of the reasons I like this idea is it reminds me of school. Why? You get to discuss books with a group of people, which is often something you do in school or with those who gather for book club do, and share some food.
As Henry Ford said, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” I want to stay young and stay in “school” — how about you?