Day Twenty-Seven

April 27

A lot has happened at this table… long conversations for almost twenty years.

My kids have grown up around this table from infants to toddlers, elementary to high school… and now they’re saying goodbye, tonight, as college students.

Jewish tradition holds the table as the most sacred place of the home. The family altar… The place we come together to break bread and to remember the Bread which was broken for us.

The place we gather to share our wildest hopes and dreams… as well as our heaviest burdens and cares.

The place where we are most vulnerable, yet somehow, most safe…

The place we laugh the hardest, yet cry the most…

The altar of the home.

The table of community… where there is always room for one more chair. One more to come and sit and be fed. Hope. Love. Quiet. Laughter. Joy. Tears. Sorrow.

We’ve had so many years of conversations around this table…

The altar of our mother’s home.

And tonight, we quietly close the door and offer it to the next family to enjoy.

The quiet altar of the home.