Melissa was enjoying dinner with her husband and their three children at a restaurant recently—until the waiter disappeared for 20 minutes. Her husband, Tim, began muttering. Melissa braced herself. “Uh-oh, here it comes,” she remembers thinking.
“EXCUSE ME!” he screamed across the room to another waiter, then stormed off to complain to the manager. When the original server finally returned to the table, her husband yelled, “Where the hell have you been for the last 45 minutes?” and continued berating him until the man walked away.
Chaos ensued.
People at other tables stared. Melissa put her head down and a hand over her eyes. In the car on the way home, she told her husband, “You know I hate it when you do that. It ruins the dinner.”[1]
Who has not experience such an event? When you are enjoying a nice dinner and something sets someone off? All of sudden you go from peace to chaos in a matter of seconds.
Dealing with chaos during the holiday season is almost a fact of life. The family is trying to enjoy a nice dinner and Aunt Bettie complains about her divorce. Uncle Bill is angry about his job. Grandma is yelling about how her neighbors are stealing her trash! Grandma, come on who is stealing your trash?
I’m sure scenes like this play out in your family sometimes. Chaos in the midst of a well indented peaceful family dinner. What is it about families that bring out the best and worst in us? All of us have some sort of dysfunction in our families. All of us must have an embarrassing family scene we remember?
