It's homecoming season for the churches nearby. In addition to attending the old family church and seeing people you haven't seen in a while, it means sharing lunch together. These are almost always covered dish, dinner-on-the-grounds type meals. At the church where I work, they prefer to do a catered meal. For some reason, the culture of the church is not one of cooking for things like this. It makes me a little sad to not work all day Saturday making something special for the gathering.
My grandmother used to do this before any sort of dinner-on-the-grounds. She would spend days preparing. She usually made an entree, a salad, and a dessert. She made enough for an army it seemed. In her later years, she always tried to bring something "healthy," whether it was a dessert sweetened with Splenda or a low-carb side dish. She would bring tea, both unsweetened and sweet, and it took up her entire car trunk to bring food anywhere. Even as more and more people started bringing Bojangles chicken or cakes from Harris Teeter, she didn't. She made homemade food for every church and family gathering. I realize that not all of us have the same gifts. Some people don't enjoy cooking or have the time and resources to do it. But for her, it didn't matter if she had time or what else was happening in her life. She gave her best because it was what she did. This week marks the 10 year anniversary of her home going. I still miss her very much. But I know that she is with me in that great cloud of witnesses, cheering me on. And she cheers loudly when I make plenty of food to share with my friends.