Always Set an Extra Place

“Always set an extra place at the table for the person from the highways and the byways.”

My mother Joanne always sets an extra place at the dining room table. When she married my father, she gained five instant children, ages 12-22. All of a sudden, there she was- a 33-year-old single mother of a 9-year-old girl who liked McDonald’s hamburgers- thrown into cooking for seven or eight every night of the week. My favorite supper dish was ‘Ranger Casserole’. I think you would call it cowboy gruel these days. It was delicious and its deliciousness emanated throughout the entire rambling ranch house.

My parents met at Easter time at church. I may never know all the specifics but I do know it was a match made in heaven. One friend of my father’s said it would never work; Joanne was too young or too something. Well, 40 years later, 9 grandchildren later, multitudes of meals later, I still ‘drop in’ near mealtime and Joanne quickly ‘enlarges’ the meal. After all, sustenance comes in many forms.