Dear Lindsey,
“All Great Change in America begins at the dinner table,” said Ronald Reagan.
I have often heard that the ties that bind a family get tied at the table, but it takes so much effort to make a dinner with 6 people happen! Though every night would be a perfect frequency of dinners together, too often six conflicting Brady calendars don’t allow for that perfection.
We cherish the memories of dinners we can procure. One such dinner a month ago was worthy of capturing for later smiles.
Before I cite the dinner conversation, I must tell you some background about my husband, Chris. He is a best-selling author, influential and entertaining speaker, has almost 200,000 followers on Twitter, obtained 2 degrees in engineering, raced motocross as a teen and loves sports. He has been my Mr. Wonderful from the beginning, so much that my mother started calling him “MW” early in our dating. His ability to laugh at himself is one of his greatest qualities, and that alone has allowed so many of his fans to relate to him, especially our children. Knowing that Dad whom they have on a pedestal has made mistakes and still turned out ok has encouraged them to persevere. Chris’s description on the back of his book, Rascal – Making a Difference by Becoming an Original Character says, “…He has one of the world’s most unique resumes: including experience with a live bug in his ear, walking through a paned-glass window, chickening out from the high-dive in elementary school, destroying the class ant-farm in third grade, losing a spelling bee on the word “use,” jack-hammering his own foot, and more recently – sinking his snowmobile in a lake.” That background might be helpful for the following Brady dinner conversation:
Nate (12): “My teacher asked if we thought our parents were perfect. I asked him, ‘which one?’”
(We laughed.)
Nate: “By the way, I got in trouble today in class for talking, and the teacher made me put my name on the board. She said, ‘All right, anyone who was talking, go to the front and put your name on the board. So I did. But I wrote it REALLY neatly, because I knew you would like that, Mom.”
(I laughed that he thought the neatness of his name would make a difference when putting his name on the board for the offense.)
Chris: “Maybe you should have written, ‘your name on the board.’”
(The kids laughed.)
Me: “That’s why Dad spent so much time in the hallway during school.”
Chris: “Yeah, they pretty much moved my desk to the hall.”
Nate: “Maybe I should try to get that to happen to me, so I can be by myself and won’t be distracted.”
Chris: “No, It’s really distracting, because every person that walks by with a bathroom pass looks at you, points at you and laughs at you.”
Christine (9) (innocently):“Why would the teacher put you in the hall, Daddy?”
Chris: “I don’t know! I didn’t do anything wrong. I just made people laugh, that’s all. Oh, and the ant farm shaking incident. I remember that one really well.”
(We laughed.)
It was Brady story #447, “The Ant Farm Shaking Incident”…the time Chris strangely felt compelled to pick up the class’s ant farm and shake it like mad, causing the teacher to walk on top of desks to close the distance FAST to grab Chris before the ants were dead. The teacher was too late.
James Dobson once said, “Unless you are in regular, meaningful, relatable conversation with your child when he is four, you can’t expect to start any meaningful conversation when he is fourteen.”
May you be blessed with family dinners and stories so familiar they’re numbered; and when your son has to write his name (neatly) on the board, just imagine him telling that story to his own kids one day when they have their dad on a pedestal. Maybe the story will even get numbered.
God bless,
Terri
Other Letters you may like:
Letters to Lindsey 
Thank you Terri! I love the reminders to focus on the little things that make the big differences!
My stomach aches from laughing! I love reading your blogs to my husband and my girls. They always love them.
Erin
P.S. We stopped to play bubbles today. 🙂
You can see where Nate gets his sense of humor! Thanks, Terri, for sharing just a “day in the life of the Brady Family”! Thanks,too, for the reminder that family dinner time is a very important time to connect. Have a Blessed day!!
I love hearing glimpses of your family dynamics! I learn so much from you. You and Chris are incredible parents! Great post! ♥
You guys are a riot! Thanks for the story!
Great story, Terri! Thanks for sharing! Our “children” are 24 and 27, and we still love it when we’re all home 2-3 times a year and share family dinners. They are so important! They still ask me what dinner plans are when they are here, and make sure they’re home on time. We still sit at our same spots at the table! And even better; they sometimes plan and cook the entire meal! So, you’ve got that to look forward to!
I never heard the ‘shaking ant farm’ story before. Picturing that teacher running across the desktops is hilarious. Who’d ever think back then that poor Chris, with his desk in the hall, would use his sense of humor to help make a living. Way to put God’s gifts to work!!
I love the photo in this blog. Is that your dining area? I couldn’t help but notice that you even have bookshelves in the dining area! Beautiful shelves, by the way. God Bless!
Thanks for sharing your family stories/life lessons. The way you depict them are vivid and hilarious to boot:). Though I did not grow up with this type of example or experience, I’m thankful to have discovered this wisdom and importance of family dinners together before our children were born. We have implemented this with our family since birth, for the most part, and I agree – I believe it makes all the difference. Now we have to just number our stories, ha ha.;)
Thanks again & God Bless!
I treasure you & your blog! Thank you Terri!
Terri, I can only imagine the amount of laughs you guys share. It’s so awesome! Thanks for giving us a glimpse of a Brady family dinner.
Great stories!! I can picture him! It reminds me of my son Rob’s teacher tellling us how–when he was late, he would throw open the classroom door and yell “Im HERE!!”, or when she had a headache and not feeilng so good, and he started the whole class singing “When you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”.:) It’s a good thing they weren’t in class together! Don’t give up on the family dinners…I lost control.
I absolutely LOVE your writings! I always come away with a smile in my heart! Thank You! ❤😊
My kids are all very funny, I want to write a book and have been asked to but wow. One Day Miranda my 5 year old was 3, she turned around and looked at me and said, I love Jesus, He has the whole world in his hands.
Yesterday there was a giant duck i a spa at the pool place and they were looking for names for it, she just as seriously as can be said, Well I was thinkin we should jus call him Bill. She is dyslexic and was 5 and getting some testing done because she was not reading and the counselor said what to poet and pianist have in common, ” Welllll they are boff artists”