Sunday Dinner

For as early as I can remember my family would gather every Sunday for dinner around our table.  It was a rare time that my father wasn't working and my brother and sisters didn't have some sort of sports practice.  I remember it, in the way that little kids often remember these things, as being Rockwell-esque.  I also remember that we always, and I mean always, had roast beef.

That is until I was around 14 years old.  It was then that my sister decided that she was a vegetarian.  Our family weren't carnivores or Texas cattle ranchers, but we were still pretty shocked by it.  She was 10 and I remember thinking, as my parents must have, that this was some sort of weird phase.  So the diners continued, with my younger sister refusing to eat.  Temper tantrums and plate throwing now became a common occurrence at our sunday diners.  My father would often storm from the table in frustration.  Eventually my mother grew tired of it and began preparing her a vegetarian meal.  As we grew older it became more convinent for my mother to prepare just one meal, and so that's how our tradition was changed.  Even now when we get together for family diners there is often just a vegetarian dish prepared.  Sometimes with a little bit of chicken on the side.  I will say one thing for my little sis, she sure stuck to her guns on this one.