Inviting people to your home for a meal is one of the most important ways that we build communities of friends and neighbors. As he planned how to feed some people at a coming dinner gathering, Salvation South editor Chuck Reece found himself grateful he could do that, because five years ago, no such gatherings were possible.

 

Dinner party

Dinner party

Credit: Adobe Stock

TRANSCRIPT:

Chuck Reece: Having some folks over for dinner is a basic building block of Southern culture and the way we build local communities down here. A handy way to love your neighbors, after all, is to love a bunch of them at once over some really good food.

So my wife and I are planning to have six friends over for supper. It is our way to get quite ambitious when folks are coming to eat at our table. Stacy feels like she must set the perfect table, and I must stretch out my kitchen skills. 

So on Saturday, after I wrote the schedule for the two days of preparation this meal requires, I picked up a book by Karin Slaughter that I was almost finished with. If you don’t know Ms. Slaughter’s work, then you’re one of the few. Her novels have sold 40 million copies around the world, and the hit TV series, Will Trent, is based on her work. I love a good thriller, and Karin Slaughter rarely fails to thrill me. 

The book I was finishing, False Witness, was published in 2021, and she wrote it at the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020. The book is set among the events of that year. In an author’s note at the end, she wrote about how hard it was to write and then rewrite as circumstances changed. The changing recommendations about masks and gloves. About wiping down what we brought home from shopping. And scrambling to get the vaccines and tracking the booster shots when other variants of the virus were uncovered.

And read that and it hit me: "Chuck, have you forgotten all that?"

Having friends over for supper was beyond the realm of possibility back then. Stacy and I didn’t even celebrate the holidays with family that year. Nobody roasted a big turkey. We stayed home and roasted a 3-pound chicken — and had leftovers.

I couldn’t believe I had put all those memories aside in so short a time. Those of us who are still here lived though a pandemic that killed more than 1.2 million of our fellow Americans — twice as many as the combined total of both world wars, plus the wars in Korea and Vietnam. 

So I was reminded. Of several things. 

First, that millions of people around our country still mourn lives changed and loved ones lost. Second, that we still don’t fully comprehend all the ways the pandemic altered how we live. Third, and most importantly, that when our friends sit down at our table, we should be grateful we are all still here — and that we are not only obliged to, but also privileged to be part of the repair work that remains.

You can find stories about how gratitude — and supper — happen around the South, anytime you want, at SalvationSouth.com.

 

Salvation South editor Chuck Reece comments on Southern culture and values in a weekly segment that airs Fridays at 7:45 a.m. during Morning Edition and 4:44 p.m. during All Things Considered on GPB Radio. Salvation South Deluxe is a series of longer Salvation South episodes which tell deeper stories of the Southern experience through the unique voices that live it. You can also find them here at GPB.org/SalvationSouth and wherever you get your podcasts.