old fashioned sundays

 "The tradition of an old fashioned Sunday accomplishes more than just feeding us, it nurtures us."

- Chef John Besh- 

Over 15 years ago, back when I was working in Washington DC I started to find myself in a pattern that I grew to quickly dread. I found myself tired and exhausted from the week and then would give myself an "off day" on Saturday but then found that I was running around like a crazy woman after church and between Sunday night community meetings to get everything done that I needed to for the coming week. I often would go to bed on Sunday night worn out and tired, thinking to myself, "I need another day in the weekend." 

As I kept thinking about my time and my weekends I remembered a story that my mom had told me about my grandfather's childhood days. My grandfather shared that his father insisted that Sunday's after church were to be kept simple and for the family and friendships. The whole day was to be centered on community. 

As a girl who loves community and people I was drawn to this idea and theme and kept returning to it as I considered my weekends. So about 15 years ago I started to put into practice the concept that my Sunday's were going to be "old fashioned Sundays" that are simple and centered solely on community. As I fought for my health some of these ideas were tweaked a bit, but the concept of keeping things simply centered on community has only grown more precious. 

My "old fashioned Sunday" truly consists of connecting with my community in a deeper way. Starting at 7am I disconnect from social media, email, and things I find distracting. I then connect on the phone with dear friends and have long heart-felt conversations as I sip tea, and spend many hours writing old fashioned letters to loved ones and to the soldiers that I have adopted through Adopt-a-Platoon. I get together with friends (since COVID this has been through zoom and virtual face-timing), create artwork, go for hikes, plan precious moments of adventures and simply enjoy the moments in front of me with my loved ones. 

I look ahead to the week, schedule in time that I want to face-time with precious friendships and make phone calls to friends that are far away. I look ahead at what is coming up in the month ahead, spend time planning gifts, creating, and thinking of ways to mark important special days and listen to music softly playing in the background. As my health has returned, I have loved baking again for loved ones, and look forward to preparing meals for my tribe, gathering around the table, and sharing laughter and our lives.

What I started to find was that by taking time to rest and invest in my community was a beautiful gift that started to erase the "worn out and tired" that used to exist. I know some of you are shaking your heads and thinking, well that sounds delightful, but I have so much responsibility that I could never do that. I get it. I really do. Most of my days (due to commitments, writing obligations, teaching, treatment, etc.) go 16-20 hours. I am not going to try and compare lives as we all have responsibilities, deadlines, demands, etc, but instead I hope that this will encourage you to carve out sometime for your own old fashioned rest and connection. 

Recently, as my life has been even more full due to the return of teaching this year and I found myself evaluating this time again. One of the ways that I have been recently challenged about this was in watching an old TV show, "Little Men". (It is available free on Amazon Prime- you can find it HERE... it's a bit slow, but adorable.) As I watched this show I was struck by the community and depth and challenged to really put down my phone, stop spending so much time scrolling through social media, and invest in the lives of those around me and who are in my community. It may seem like a strange connection, but watching this show was a gentle and beautiful reminder of the gift of the present. Something that I fought so hard for for the last decade and something I want to continue to treasure.

All of these things have brought a richness and depth to my life and I truly look forward to Sundays. This has created a haven living concept in deep ways for me. I think that for every person and family during different seasons this might look unique, but the concept of having an old fashioned Sunday is something that I hope to treasure forever. I shared at the beginning that Chef John Besh once said, "The tradition of an old fashioned Sunday accomplishes more than just feeding us, it nurtures us." I love this. I would love to know what ways you incorporate this idea into your lives! Please share in the comments below!

Here's to a beautiful and nurturing and refreshing day friends. I hope that today is the start of an amazingly beautiful week for you.