The Revival of Sunday Brunch

Our new (reinvented) tradition with more sleep and less hangover.

We started Sunday Friend Brunch because keeping up with friends is hard. Keeping up with friends when you have kids is … really hard. You don’t usually get to say yes to the last-minute dinner invites or the “let’s watch the game at the bar” texts. At least, not without serious planning, mapping out nap times, and at least four bags. And probably two meltdowns. 

We sort of stumbled our way into the renewal of Sunday Brunch. Friends from Chicago were in town (hi, Lia and Matt!), and we wanted to have them over. The only time that worked was breakfast. At first, it felt a little lame — and honestly, it made me a little sad. The reality of our lives now being dictated by this tiny (perfect, wonderful, awaited and wild) human can be a lot. But can I tell you something?  It was wonderful. We had coffee and carbs and sweets and everything that makes life happy. Plus, morning-Bennett is my favorite Bennett. Kids are just better in the morning. IYKYK. 

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After we had such a great morning, it actually seemed like a genius idea —a Sunday brunch with friends, just like we used to do when we were carefree, city-living kids.  I don’t know if making a big deal out of brunch was a Chicago thing or a millennial-everywhere thing, but we LIVED for Sunday brunch back in the day. We had a standing date. An open-table, come-when-you-can policy where bottomless mimosas flowed. We caught-up on life big and small, melded friend groups from different corners, shared pancakes, and just connected. 

Need I say it again, keeping up with friends as a grown person caring for little people is HARD. Honestly,  life as a whole while caring for little people is hard. And, at least for me, there has been a mourning of “life before”. But “life before” isn’t gone forever. Sure, this season looks different, and maintaining relationships outside of the four walls of your home takes more effort than it used to. But I think the secret is finding a way to bring “life before” into “life now”. They don’t have to coexist all the time (and, truthfully, probably can’t). But finding moments that make you feel like you in this new phase is, I think, the key. 

So, we’ve started a new tradition with our crew. One Sunday a month is Sunday Brunch (or Bennett Brunch, as our friends call it) at our house. It’s nothing fancy, or at least we haven’t gone fancy yet. We have coffee +  bagels, donuts, whatever we feel like. We sit in the playroom and talk. I don’t worry about how dirty my kitchen floor is, because no one is looking. I don’t stress about the stack of mail by the front door, because no one truly cares. 

Our days right now are crazy. This season of life, for a lot of reasons, is wild. And making time for friendships can easily get pushed down the priority list. If there’s any single thing parenthood has taught me, it’s to adapt. Right now, quality time with our friends looks like this: Sunday mornings on the playroom floor. Fitting things into the cracks of our life. I know it won’t always. I know that someday, before we know it, we’ll be able to say yes to the last-minute dinner invitations. But I also know that we’ll be longing for the Sunday mornings on the playroom floor. 

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