What are we doing here? And why?
Getting a word in edgewise at the family dinner table was something of an accomplishment during my childhood. Not for me, but for my parents and younger siblings.
In search of balance, my parents adopted a rule: we’d go around the table — we always sat in the same chairs — and everyone would share their favorite part of the day. Every night. For years and years. If I had a friend over for dinner, he shared his favorite part of that day. When my college girlfriend came to visit in the summer, she shared.
Now that she’s my wife and we have four sons, we try this conversational gambit on the rare chance we’re all sitting down to dinner together. With only three who understand the question and just two regularly willing to participate, the success rate is less than impressive. We’re pretty bad at saying grace, too, but we try.
On June 29, 2015, acting on a whim, I wrote my favorite part of the day on Facebook, and asked my friends to share theirs. I’ve done so every day since, sharing a sentence, a photo or a brief story, and ending with the question, “What was your #FPOTD?”
My former newspaper editor wrote about my custom in his weekly column, and later turned that into a radio piece. A high school classmate, now an elementary school teacher, adopted the practice with a bulletin board in her classroom. A former pastor put a blurb in the church newsletter. And now, thanks to some nudging from one of the siblings whose voice I used to drown out, I’m here trying to find a way to encourage people to find ways to adapt this daily discipline.
There are moments in every day that stand out. Taking a little bit of time to remember the bright spots and then sharing that joy opens up a new way to make each day count even as weeks, months and years might seem to fly away.
