Long ago, in a world far far from today’s, people would gather around a large table to have their noon meal in Murdo which was called “dinner”. When I first heard that, having moved to Murdo at about age 12, I thought we would be eating at days end around 6:00 or 7:00 pm which to me is dinner time, not lunch which was noonish. Nope. In Murdo, dinner was your big hot meal, served when lunch usually is served other places.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, I was fortunate on my recent trip to Murdo, South Dakota to be invited down to the Thomas Farm on Sunday July 19th for dinner.
I was both surprised and honored by the opportunity to witness and indulge in dinner, farm style. Gadzooks, it was a pleasure and an opportunity. Shucks, the food variety and amount was unbelievable. Geeze, it was food galore. Yikes, I felt part of their family seated around the oval table with 10 of us and a few kids on laps and a sweet baby being passed around during dinner. It felt incredibly special.
Have you ever felt like an outsider yet somehow a group of people included you in a tradition of their family, and they wrapped their loving arms around you, you being a stranger, but this stranger- you- they knew had family ties with their family from the past? So they were fine with you being at the Sunday dinner table with the father figure cooking the main thing- ribs and burgers.
I was that stranger who Paul Thomas invited on a lovely Sunday of about 102 degrees to their farm. He was barbecuing and brought in a great pan full of ribs then hamburgers. The other relatives he invited some who lived on the farm and some who lived nearby brought food, mouth watering perfect food. Sister Susan steamed cauliflower and broccoli. Others picked veggies from the garden and made pickled beets, delicious cucumbers, mushrooms that I cannot even describe as to how good they were, a zucchini cheese casserole that was as unique as it was fresh and salad and rolls. It was so much deliciousness.
But the most delicious, delightful, divine part was the feeling of love and family. Plus my Sanderson Family roots were dug in deeply from the early 1900’s with the Thomas Family and I heard stories from my mother about her family often having fun dinners and going to school with the Thomas’s. That made the day better by a lot. I was able to stop and breathe it all in as we passed one bountiful dish of food to the next person and I got to take plates and serve the casserole since it was too hot to pass around. I hadn’t brought anything to share. So I’m sharing this story hoping it brings a smile or an “ahha” moment to you as you maybe recall a time you got to sit down for a family meal or share food and conversation with others. It’s a blessing of true joy.
I got the feeling that this Thomas Family down on the farm Sunday dinner was no big deal for them. To me it was being home again.
Those 70ish Girls 