"Blessings on the Meal"

Growing up, we did a fairly simple grace before eating our dinner each night. "Thank you for this meal, amen." Nothing fancy, nothing too religious, but a brief acknowledgment of the fact that we were thankful for the food on the table. When I moved away from home, I stopped doing this. I was 18 and was way too wrapped up in myself to bother it seemed. Or it just didn't occur to me. Whatever the reason, this simple ritual didn't appear in my life again until almost 10 years ago.

We were at my not-yet husband's aunt's house for the first time and before we ate one of many to come wonderful meals, they all joined hands and sang a song. At the end of the song, we said "Blessings on the meal." I felt self conscious for some reason and couldn't make out the words, but thought "huh. That was different," and continued onto my meal. I had never met anyone who joined hands before eating, let alone sang a blessing. It turns out it was a Waldorf verse, and now that our daughter has entered this system, I am learning more about the verses shared before eating. (You can google "waldorf verses" or check out openwaldorf.com if you want to learn more.)

So, now we have our own family blessing. We've always made it a point to sit together at suppertime, and my husband and I have added a simple verse to our meal. We light a candle, which is totally exciting to our 3 year old daughter. The first time we joined hands, my husband and I exchanged one of those parenting semi grins that ensured we both felt a bit odd doing it. I held my daughter's hand and my son's arm gently(he is almost 10 months old and must use both hands to eat at all times while seated) while my husband did the same.

"Earth who gives us our food, Sun who makes it ripe and good, Dearest Earth and Dearest Sun, We won't forget what you have done. Blessings on the meal."

It's been several weeks now, and it only took our daughter maybe three nights to learn the blessing. It took my husband and I almost a week (we're kinda slow that way - at least we're well matched). The only thing that has changed is that our daughter likes to lead the way and when we get to the last bit she says, "Blessings on the coconut meal," and giggles like crazy.