Dinner With Smiley’s Family: Name Institution Wordcount=1535
DINNER WITH THE SMILE’S FAMILY
INTRODUCTION The book “dinner with the smiley’s: one military family” expresses the story of Sarah who is a mother of three. As she begins the story she introduces us to her family where her husband has been deployed for a duty in Africa for the next thirteen months. The whole experience for her without her husband Dustin is not easy bearing in mind she is a young mother of three. Sarah is left behind to manage the homestead and foresee the children in their schooling and general parenthood. Sarah and her kids do not feel good to see her Dustin’s chair vacant in their dining table every day, thus she decides to invite guests for dinner in their hothead at some specific days. This was one of Sarah’s strategies to mentor her children as she invites very important people, including the vice president and senior athletes(Sarah, 2013:28). I the story interesting and educational for many other women like Sarah. This article will review varied themes from this book including; responsibility, endurance and communal social bonding.
DINNER WITH THE SMILE’S FAMILY BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOK This book carries with it immense themes. All the way from parenthood responsibilities how Sarah did it, endurance during the absence of her husband and also adaptability to circumstances. The entire story presents the themes of military families and how they are actually facing hard time. Dani who is the military man was deployed to Rwand leaving his wife and three sons at home. Sarah explains how bad her situation of being without a husband and managing the whole family was. She manages the situation by inviting guests every week for dinner in her place. Sarah’s story brings about varied themes as it actually displays a number of lessons. In this case it is not just about how to manage the entire period alone after her husband is deployed, but it also captures communial building and bonding. We see Sarah inviting varied guests for dinner who also contribute to their dinner table. Her children are also motivated socially even in the absence of their father,which is a great lesson that this book captures effectively. Dinner stories are very educative; some are hilarious while others give us some good lessons. This article will therefore touch on major themes in this book; responsibility, communal bonding, endurance and adaptability Responsibility This is the greatest theme that actually comes out as Sarah describes her story. She is separated from her husband due to military deployment, but despite this she stands to mentor their three boys in the right way. She describes how hard it is being a single parent, but from how she handles the whole situation she proves herself as a patient mother. She takes full control of her boys and house as well as expose the children to great role models. Endurance and adaptability The military life itself calls for endurance, but more of this goes to the family of Dustin. In this book Sarah describes how hard it is for her to stay without her husband. In this case, even the kids were not happy to see their father’s sit empty at the dining table. This shows how they had to endure for 52weeks when their father was not around (Sarah, 2013). Communal bonding Sarah portrays social integration and love among neighbors. In this case we see Sarah focusing on the community in the absence of Dustin. This is a great theme which indicates communal love is important. A single parent for instance, in the case of Sarah cannot exist alone but have to live with people. Children as described by Sarah learnt from their guests, at the beginning their discipline wasnot good, but after a while the older childhad the responsibity to invite guests. This shows how society plays a great role in shaping people, especially the children(Sarah, 2013). CRITICAL REVIEW The story of Sarah in this book is greatly touching how she actually spent her time in the absence of her husband. Sarah uses a very figurative language which vividly describe the endeavors of military families who are separated from their family members by military deployment. This was a very creative idea for her to pass the time as well as introduce her boys to varied role models. However, this wasnot an easy thing as it made her vulnerable to the external environment. A single mother for instance, would be faced with varying challenges. She has not actually touched on this. She focused on her children, but never told us about herself, as all she did was for her family. I feel having a guest daily wasn’t a good idea as it also become too much for the family financially. Sarah did a great thing in putting effort in communal bonding, majorly by inviting guests to their house for dinner. However, in critical looking, the guests invited were great people, but left their immediate neighbors. Bringing up the issue of social and authority status weakens the theme of social cohesion. But generally having some few guests solved their issue of Dustin absence effectively. Sarah’s ability to fit into the society when left alone is commendable. In most occurrences,people find it hard to mingle up with others,even when lonely. Despite the fact that she has company she acknowledges the fact that her kids need other people not just her alone. Children are growing and whatever they see when young that’s what they grow and adopt at the end. It’s all impressive that a mother like her plays a role to streamline the boys to be better people in the future. Critical vie to the various themes such as responsibility is displayed effectively, however, there is much to do with responsibility, as we check to the way she invites visitors more often she reduces her focus on the kids. She should have been more focused on her children and be able to use resources more efficiently. The author shows how she really misused varied resources while her husband is doing all he can to ensure he feeds the family. It is not always amust for one to bring visitors home so as to forget the lonliness. Having the lids around was enough to make her feel comfortable. On communal bonding, she fails to include other simpler people as she is more focused on high profile people. This indicates some kind of discrimination which is negative to societal existence. Sarah ought to have treated everyone equally so that her children would also be able to treat them similarly by inviting people of varied backgrounds. Sarah’s emotional honesty that she presents makes the whole story enjoyable. Look at how real she is when she argues how she struggled for 52weeks in theabsence of her husband. She is one of the military family, which actually create a feeling of sacrifice (Endrest 2014). The soldiers sacrifice their family’s happiness to help others for such long period of time. These families deserve our respect as the whole story is beyond hard for everyone. Back to the family of Sarah who does not actually question the fact that her family lacks something. She appreciates it and do something to drive away unnecessary fearsfor her family survival. This story of Sarah is engaging and emotional. Personally, I get a feeling that I have to get out of my comfort zone so as to be able to open up to new friends. She invites guests every week for such a long period of time without any hesitation. The same way each human has to be friendly and create as many friends as possible. The life we live needs, such sacrifice which makes it more fun. Personally, I lack an excuse why I shouldn’t be able to host a good number of friends. Sometimes people fail to recognize the need humanity in the entire life, hence may not be able to explore it. Sarah acts as a great example that proves to aspires every person to adjust their lives and explore the world. CLOSING COMMENTS AND REFLECTION This book is an interesting one and full of life lessons. As people grow they ought to adjust life and adapt to whatever they face. Whoever waits for another person may not be able to survive. Sarah presents a very useful lesson to herself, kids and other women who are separated from their father by the military deployment. Social integrationis important for human survival and the art of sharing as Sarah made life more fun. Her endurance is exemplary and she is a strong and courageous woman who is not afraid. She also aims to make sure her kids learn better lessons from good people. People have to weigh situations to ensure healthy survival. Social interaction and bonding in the society starts with change at a personal level. Treatment of people should always be done equally, for instance low profile people as well as high profile people should be treated equalt. Sarah fails in this virtue as she focuses more on high profile individulals and forget other low profile people. She is also not as patient as she describes as she feels lonely even with presence of her children. However, she is a creative woman who can survive complex situations and she really acts to show need for women to adapt to the situation.
References James Endrst (USATODAY; Book Reviews[2014]). Dinner with the Smiley’s: One Military Family, One Year of Heroes, and Lessons for a Lifetime retrieved October 2016 (http://books.usatoday.com/book/%27dinner-rith-the-smileys-is-a-delicious-ddiversion/r85138) Sarah Smiley. 2013. Dinner with the Smiley’s: One Military Family, One Year of Heroes, and Lessons for a Lifetime. New York: Hyperion.