My bunch absolutely cannot do without community. We love family time, but getting together with friends—where the moms can share, the kids can play, and the dads can bond—is a must. Hanging with our Moe’s gang on Kids Eat Free night gets me through the hump in the middle of the week.
Although we arrive separately in our own time, we leave en masse and always after closing time. If the weather’s warm the conversation moves outside, where the kids play football, frisbee, or whatever in the parking lot.
Our community at Moe’s grew slowly, week by week. We constantly invite new people, who might come once or occasionally, but there’s a core of us that rarely miss.
Tonight my 6- and 8-year-old daughters sat at a table with a little girl and her mother. When I introduced myself, I found that these were friends made at Moe’s on another evening; the girls didn’t know each other from anywhere else, but they sat together for supper.
Your can build community like this where you live. Find a Moe’s or any restaurant with a family night and invite your friends. If you don’t have local friends, just show up and make them.
No one cooks. No one cleans. Just breathe and let friendships germinate.
Last week my 16-year-old son and I made the 700 mile drive to Harrisburg, PA, for The Relevant Conference largely due to one of our sponsors—you guessed it—Moe’s Southwest Grill.
The manager of our local Moe’s told me he hoped that after visiting restaurants in other parts of the country, we’d return to say that his location—our location—was best. While others may have been bigger or better situated, nothing compares to being where everyone knows your name.
Does your family have community? What can you do to foster it?
Our Road Trip to Relevant was made possible by sponsorship from:
- DaySpring – Home for the Hearts of Women
- Moe’s Southwest Grill – Welcome to Moe’s!
- Amy Bayliss: Cajun joie de vivre
- Kia & DriveSTI
I love love love this Dawn. Your stories about Moe’s have me keeping my eye out for a place our kids and our family can call our restaurant home!
We do have a restaurant home. As Lisa Jo said. And we’ve been goin there for more than 5 years now. Although the staffs had changed (a lot) throughout the years, the food still delicious as I can remember!
Absolutely love this post.
1) Our family and friends are in love with Bravo’s. They have these garlic rolls that are amazing! We crave them. Lucky for me they are vegan…tummy is happy.
2) Starbuck’s Pearlridge is our place to go. We’ve become friends with the workers. They share their day and we offer to keep them in prayer or praise.
It is wonderful to go where they know your name…and your regular orders too…lol.
Jeri, I keep the kids orders on my phone!
I love your blog. If for nothing else than the way you write. Each story makes me want to keep reading. I can only hope that one day I can write as well as you. I loved this post. I remember many restaurants when I was still a child that I would go with my father and they always knew his name and our family. Especially the Waffle House at 4 am. That is a memory I will hold forever going to Waffle House with my dad on Saturday mornings at 4 am. These nights at Moe’s is something your children and family will hold forever and cherish.
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