Today is a typical Sunday in my house in that some things about it are not typical. I set my alarm for 10:30 (we go to bed late) in anticipation of a visit from a friend.
Typical: My husband was already up getting the coffee pot going which I really appreciate. In fact, it’s often the smell of coffee that draws me downstairs into the kitchen on Sundays. I sat and enjoyed a cup while reading the SOL posts and commenting here and there. It was then that I realized that I hadn’t yet posted my slice and hurriedly searched some photos to add to it from the Internet. Done!
Typical: My husband was also getting ready to prepare his favorite Sunday breakfast: pancakes with peaches. Over the years I’ve persuaded him to use multi-grain pancake mix, and he has added wild blueberries as well. That, plus a slice or two of Trader Joe’s turkey bacon makes for a delicious Sunday breakfast. Not having to be responsible for Sunday breakfast is a gift to me.
Not Typical: We were expecting an old friend to visit who was my daughter’s former violin teacher. She was stopping by to pick up a book I was lending her, plus a few bird’s nest necklaces she was purchasing from my daughter as gifts for herself and friends. We don’t get to visit that often since she has a very hectic schedule as a Suzuki violin teacher and it is hard to find common “down” time. This was an unusual treat that we relished.
Not Typical: The friend has come and gone and our visit was, as always full of chatter and family talk. Her new necklace looked lovely on her! Now my daughter is wrapping some necklaces to send to those who’ve ordered them by email.
This is her second Sunday at home since she changed job responsibilities at the bookstore. It’s so nice to have her around for the entire weekend. After so many years of not having her around on Sundays, it still feels special.
Typical: When she finishes her task, I will peel myself away from my iPad and take a walk with her, probably at the park. We have a nesting swan there and she likes to keep track of it and the other signs of spring that are finally happening there like the tulips beginning to push up their leaves. We haven’t seen any signs of the turtles yet, tho’ there are thousands of them every year. It’s funny to think of them still burrowed in the mud below.
Typical: When we return from our walk I will undoubtedly begin to prepare dinner as it is already 4 pm. Today it will be beef stew. This is one last winter dash before the season is over and it’s one of my daughter’s favorites.
Typical: Dinner will be followed by a flurry of activity as we clean up the dishes and finish some unfinished tasks for the day before we are ready for our tv time. Lately we have been watching reruns of the series Six Feet Under about a California family that is in the funeral home business. They are very unlike Easterners but their lives are full of the joy and pain of living which they sometimes handle well, sometimes not. The daughter, Clare, reminds me so much of my own when she was younger. We call ourselves The Den Club because we often sit in our red bathrobes together. Just a coincidence!
Does this sound at all like your family on a typical /atypical Sunday?
Teaching for Life 
Barbara, life is full on Sundays in your house. The pancake breakfast sounds delicious.
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I wish that my typical Sunday started out like yours or ended like yours! My kids are little , so I’m at their mercy until church, where I escort them to their school rooms so that I can catch a break and listen like a grown up—! Love your walk with the nesting swans and hibernating frogs burrowed below. Lovely to read about your Sunday.
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It will happen…but don’t be in a rush! I know the agony of wanting a little time to oneself, and I, too, tried “Sunday School.” But my daughter wouldn’t stay in the class so I had to give up on that as well. But now, looking back, I wouldn’t give up a minute of the time I spent with my children (now 32 and 34). They turned out to be such wonderful people, so all that attention was time well spent, even when it seemed like torture! Hang in there!
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So full of love and good things!
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Just like your house…only thirty years later!
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Sundays are special family days here too. My Sundays include phone calls to and from siblings who I don’t see as often as I’d like. My own children all have families of their own, but we get together often…on Sundays, typically. My husband is the pancake maker at our house too.
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Typical has the routine down, comfortable. Atypical shakes the world just a bit, which is always kind of fun, especially if it involves a visit from someone you don’t see often. Sundays are a day at a leisurely pace, a time to savor time together before the busy-ness of the working week. We had stew last night too. 🙂
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Well said! Full disclosure…we did not have stew after all. The day ran away with me so it was too late to prepare it. Had to dig out some homemade turkey soup from the freezer to have with grilled cheese sandwiches. Now you know all my secrets!
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Sounds like a typically beautiful day friends, family, unrushed. I agree, there is nothing like the smell of coffee brewing in the morning.
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The next best thing are those first sips, don’t you agree?
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You’ve had a great Sunday – typical good stuff, lovely surprises for atypical stuff.
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I love my Sundays.
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