Sunday Brunch

We love Sunday brunch. It has been a tradition since we have been married to celebrate our Lord's day by splurging a little bit, waiting a little longer to eat (usually after mass and cooking), and feasting. We have gone through stages: the frittata stage, omelet stage, gallo pinto stage, baked French toast stage, muffins, yogurt , and fruit stage...no matter what, we enjoy experimenting and sharing a meal together and with friends and family when possible.

Anyone who has kept up with our story knows that we are in a different kind of stage. We moved, I started school and part-time work, and we are preparing for our second child. Life is blessed, but our morale waxes and wanes. Lately, especially, it has waned. The day-in and day-out grind of work, serving Thomas and each other has led to a multi-layered exhaustion. Yesterday, it seemed like both of us woke up after an epic battle. We limped out of bed, making it barely to the couch. We dragged ourselves through the morning, fulfilling obligations of studying and serving our family. We had the joie de vivre of a paper clip (one of those regular metal kinds) and were ready to break. Pondering how we are going to make it through these next two months (until Christmas break), we decided that we needed to celebrate life more often. Our lives are so routined and packed with to-dos, and rightfully so. Nonetheless, we have felt entrapped by the mundane yet tenacious daily schedule, which has been gradually gnawing at our will to persist, much less to celebrate.

But celebrate we will. We brought back brunch today, and we celebrated: health, opportunity, love, family and friends. We are going to celebrate something at least once a week--some ideas we had were saints we particularly admire, church feast days, or something random. Food appears to be one obvious way to celebrate, but we are going to try other things too, like maybe practicing a special devotion on that day. Of course, adding celebration to our life does not undermine the gravity of keeping up with what we need to do to survive this stage in life. It does however remind us that we are children of God, heirs of life eternal, and we are invited to find joy in the Resurrection. Already today, the mood is lighter in our house (also due to opening up all the windows in our kitchen, S.T.). We have a lot to do today, but, with the enthusiasm with which Thomas says "truck," we will celebrate.