May 5, 2026

A Sunday Like This

A Sunday Like This

A simple Sunday turns into something unforgettable as the Hanson family navigates chaos, creativity, and connection at a Route 66 art show—ending in a quiet, meaningful reminder of what truly matters.

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There are days that don't look like anything special when

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you wake up, no big plans on the calendar, no

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milestones marked and read, no once in a lifetime moment's

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waiting for you when your feet hit the floor. Just

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a Sunday, the kind of sunday that if someone asked

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you about it a week later, you'd probably struggle to

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remember at first. But sometimes those are the days that

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stay with you the longest. Not because something extraordinary happened,

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but because everything did. Every small thing, every quiet thing,

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every loud, messy ordinary thing layered on top of each

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other until they made up something you didn't even realize

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was a memory until you were already inside it. This

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is one of those sundays, the kind that doesn't announce itself,

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the kind that doesn't ask for your attention, the kind

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that you have to be paying attention to eat even notice.

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But once you do, you can unsee it, you can

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unfeel it, and you start realizing how many of these

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days are stacking up behind you, quietly building the life

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you actually live. Hey, guys, welcome back to We are

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the Hansens. I'm Maya, and today's episode is one of

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those stories I didn't plan on turning into anything big.

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I almost didn't tell it at all because on paper,

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nothing happened. We didn't go on a trip, we didn't

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celebrate anything, we didn't have a special occasion. It was

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just our Sunday, a day that started simple, turned colorful,

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got loud, got full, and somehow ended in one of

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those quiet, grateful moments that just sits in your chest

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and doesn't move. You know, that kind where nothing is

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perfect but everything feels right, where you look around the

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room and you can't really put it into words, but

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there's this feeling like, yes, this is it, this is

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what it's supposed to feel like. So pull up a seat,

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pour yourself a cup of something, settle in somewhere comfortable,

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put your phone down if you can. Because this is

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a slow story, a simple story, a story about a

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day where nothing happened, and somehow everything happened at the

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same time. But I think by the end you'll know

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exactly the kind of sunday I'm talking about. You might

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even start thinking about one of your own. So this

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past Sunday started the way most of our sundays do.

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A little chaotic, a little slow, a little who's awake,

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who's still asleep, and why is there already noise coming

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from the kitchen. Jeremy was up before me. He almost

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always is. There's something about him in the early morning

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hours that I love watching, even when he doesn't know

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I'm watching. He moves like the day already has a plan,

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steady home, just getting things done. I come out and

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the house has already had that quiet hump to it.

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The dishwasher running from the night before, coffee already going,

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a blanket folded on the back of the couch from

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someone who fell asleep there and didn't quite make it

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to bed. The kind of soft Sunday light coming through

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the kitchen window that you only get if you're up

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early enough to catch it. There's a particular smell to

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a Sunday morning in our house. It's coffee and laundry

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and whatever someone just opened the fridge for and didn't

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fully decide on. It's that little background sound of someone

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watching cartoons in the next room with the volume just

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a little too loud. It's a door closing somewhere down

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the hall that you can't quite identify. It's home. We

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had plans to head to the Route sixty six art

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show that afternoon, and anytime you try to get this

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many people out of the house and into cars, it

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becomes an event in itself. Trust me, I was already

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running through the mental checklist before I even had my

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first sip of coffee? Did everyone eat? Does everyone have

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shoes on? Why is someone already asking for snacks when

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breakfast just ended? Who's missing? And then you start calling

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names Anlin, Torn, Maddie, Tristan, Gavin Riley, Johnny Logan, Kate Connor, Haley, Matthew,

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Sammy And somehow even when everyone answers, it still feels

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like someone's missing. That's just our normal, that's the rhythm

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of a big family. You count heads twice, you assume nothing.

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You accept that someone is always in another room doing

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something you don't know about yet. There's something about loading

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up for something like this that I wish I could

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just film, just once, not to share, just to remember,

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because the version in my head years from now is

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going to be way more polished than what it actually

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looked like yours opening and closing, people grabbing water bottles,

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someone forgot their jacket, Someone's already back inside because they

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forgot something else. The dog is somewhere in the middle.

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Of it all, just convinced that she's coming too. Jeremy

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was standing by the door at one point with that look,

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you know, that look, the one where he's not annoyed,

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he's not stressed, he's just kind of taking inventory on

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what's happening and quietly accepting that we will eventually get

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out the door. We made eye contact and both of

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us just kind of laughed because we know this is

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the part people don't see, the behind the scenes of

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let's go have a nice family day. It's never quiet,

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it's never smooth. There's always always a delay. But that's

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the part that's actually the day, not the destination, the

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whole thing, the hunting for the missing shoe, the weight,

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did somebody grab the diaper bag? The kid who appears

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in the entryway in an outfit you didn't approve and

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don't have time to argue about. The other kid who

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is somehow already too hot even though we haven't left.

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The husband who is just standing there with his keys

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in his hand, completely at peace because he's done this

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so many times. He knows it'll work out eventually. It does,

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it always does, And eventually we were in the cars,

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doors closed, seatbelts, on music, going heading towards something we

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didn't know we'd remember, and then we got there and

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everything shifted. You step out of the car and immediately

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you can feel it that energy. There's music in the distance,

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somebody playing acoustic, probably set up under a tent somewhere

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we hadn't seen yet. People talking, laughter, the hum of

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something creative happening all around you. It's one of those

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spaces where you don't have to try to enjoy yourself,

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it just happens. The kids scattered a little at first,

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like they always do. Everyone wanted to see something different.

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Some went ahead with the excited, almost running pace, some

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hung back, taking their time. Some were immediately drawn to

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the first booth they saw and stopped dead in their tracks.

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You learn with a big family that you can't hurt

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everybody to the same thing at the same time. You

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don't even try. You just do a quick head count,

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You make sure that the older ones know who they're

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keeping an eye on. You point to a meeting spot,

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and then you let go, because if you spend the

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whole day trying to keep everybody together, you don't actually

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get to be there yourself, and then you miss the day.

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So you breathe, you loosen the grip, you trust them,

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and Jeremy and I just kind of stood there for

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a second. We didn't even say anything. We just took

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it in because moments like this, they don't happen in silence.

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They happen in layers. The sounds layer on top of

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each other, the colors layer, the conversations, the smells from

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the food truck somewhere down the road. You can't hold

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all of it at once. You just let it wash

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over you. And then we started walking. We started walking

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through the art show, slow it first, the way you

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do when you don't have anywhere to be. And I

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don't know what it is about seeing art in person,

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but it hits different, different than scrolling past it on

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a phone, different than seeing it in a magazine. When

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you're standing right in front of it, you can feel

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the time inside it, the patience, the intention. You can

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see pieces that someone sat with, worked on, probably doubted,

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probably almost gave up on, and still finished. And then

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it's just there out in the open for anyone to

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see or not see. Some people walk right past it,

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some people stop. Some people stand there for two full

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minutes without saying a word, and whoever made it might

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never know which one of these people was changed by it.

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That's the part that always gets me. The artist puts

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it out out there and let's it go. There's a

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kind of bravery in that, And I don't think we

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talk about it enough, because making something is one thing.

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Sharing it is another. Standing next to it while strangers

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walk by, some of them noticing, some of them not.

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That's a whole different kind of courage. I caught myself

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watching one of the artists at one point, not the

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art her, just sitting on her folding chair, watching people

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walk past, watching them stop, watching them not stop. And

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I thought about how much of her life was probably

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folded up into those pieces hanging around her, how many

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late nights, how many rough drafts, how many times she

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probably told herself this is the one and then changed

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her mind two days later. And here she was on

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a Sunday in a parking lot, hoping somebody would see

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what she saw when she made it. That's beautiful to me,

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that's brave. And then we came across the Robot art.

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I'm not even sure how to describe it without you

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seeing it, but the second we turned that corner, it

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grabbed everyone. It was bold, different, creative in the way

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that made you stop and look longer than you expected to,

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the kind of art where the kids lean in, where

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someone says, wait, look at this. And suddenly everyone gathered

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around the same booth, all of us standing too close together,

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all of us pointing at different parts, talking over each other,

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seeing different details. Look at the eyes, look at how

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they did the hands that's made out of what. I

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just stood there for a second watching them take it in,

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because it wasn't just about the art. It was about

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what it did. It brought people together, It sparked something.

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It made the kids, kids who don't always slow down down.

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And as a parent, you don't get a lot of

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moments where everybody is paying attention to the same thing

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at the same time. So when one of them happens,

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you bank it. You don't try to make it a

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big moment. You just let it be the moment it is.

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And as we kept walking booth after booth after booth,

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we start to realize how much talent is packed into

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one space. Paintings, sculptures, handmade pieces, jewelry, would burn, signs, ceramics, photography,

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things that don't even fit into a category, and every

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single one had a story behind it. You could tell

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which pieces took hours, which ones took days, which ones

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probably took months. There was one woman painting in the

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back of her booth, actually painting right there in front

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of everybody, and I stood there longer than I meant to,

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just watching her hand move. She wasn't performing for anyone,

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she was just working like the crowd wasn't even there.

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And I started appreciating it all in a different way

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because it wasn't just something pretty hanging on a ball.

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It was something personal, somebody's hours, somebody's frustration, somebody's try again,

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somebody's quiet little victory the day they finally got it right.

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That's what you're really walking packs, not just our lives

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and the group. Our group was moving through the show

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like this big, shifting living thing, people pairing off, breaking off,

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coming back together at the next big booth. Kevin and

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Riley walking side by side, both quiet, both noticing things

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at the same time, the girl stopping at things longer,

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taking it all in, pointing things out to each other,

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and that way they do when they're both seeing the

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same thing but from completely different angles. The boys pretending

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they weren't impressed, but definitely stopping anyway, standing there with

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their hands in their pockets, trying to look casual, but

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looking three or four seconds longer than someone who didn't

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actually care. Johnny and Logan pointing things out, Connor and

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Matthew joking about something I couldn't quite hear, but I

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knew by the laughter wasn't anything I needed to worry about.

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Sammy trying to keep up with everything, determined not to

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miss whatever the older kids were looking at. And somewhere

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in the middle of it all, Jeremy and I were

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just watching, taking mental snapshots. We didn't even talk much

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during that part. We didn't have to. We were just

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seeing it together because this is what we'll remember, not

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just what we saw, but how it felt to watch

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them seeing it. There were these little moments throughout the

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day that didn't seem big at the time, but they stuck.

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Kate stopping to compliment somebody's work completely unprompted, the look

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on the artist's face when she did, Hailey finding a

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piece she absolutely loved, just standing there with it for

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a while. Tristan asking questions about a piece that was

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way more thoughtful than I expected, one of the boys

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laughing a little too hard at something random. Two of

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them standing quietly side by side, just taking it in,

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not even talking. Mattie pointing out a detail and a

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painting that the rest of us had walked right past.

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Anlin standing in front of a piece for so long

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that I almost said something, and then I didn't, because

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whatever she was thinking was hers, not mine. Torn picking

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something up from a table, examining it like she was

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an art critic, and then putting it back exactly where

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she found it. That kind of quiet between siblings is

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rare and short lived, so you notice it when it

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shows up. Those are the moments that make days like

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this what They are. Not the big highlights, the small ones,

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the ones you almost don't catch, the ones that would

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never make a photo, the ones that don't translate to

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a phone screen, But they're the ones you keep. Eventually

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you reach that point where you've seen it all, or

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at least enough, your feet are tired, The little ones

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are starting to drag. The energy starts to shift again,

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that subtle change you can feel before anyone says anything

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out loud. People are a little quieter, still talking, but slower.

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The conversations have a different rhythm, now, less excited, more content.

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You can tell who's tired by who's stopped pointing things out.

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You can tell who's ready by who's started circling back

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to the people they came with. You can tell the

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day has done its work by the way nobody's complaining

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at but everybody's drifting in the same direction without being told.

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And we started heading back towards the cars loading up again,

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same chaos, same energy, but softer this time because the

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day had already happened. The high point was already behind us,

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and somehow that made the drive home feel even better,

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like the day had earned its quiet. When we got

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back home, it was like stepping into a completely different rhythm.

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The noise changed, the pace changed. Some people headed straight inside,

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00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:34.440
some people headed straight outside. Shoes were kicked off in

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three different doorways. Somebody opened the fridge before they'd even

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00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:41.759
fully walked through the door. Somebody else turned on the

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TV that didn't really need to be turned on. Somebody

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put their bag down somewhere absolutely did not belong, and

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I made a mental note to deal with it later,

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knowing full well I wouldn't. That's the post event come

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down in a big family. Everybody decompresses in their own

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corner of the house, in their own way. And then

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the boys decided basketball. Of course, of course it was

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going to be basketball. It's always basketball. And just like that,

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they were gone running out the door, grabbing the ball,

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already talking trash. Before the game had even started. You

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could hear it from inside the house, the bounce of

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the ball on the driveway. She was scraping on pavement, shouting, laughing,

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00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:32.799
arguing overcalls. That didn't matter. That was a fall, that

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00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:36.359
was not a fall. You always call a foul. You're

278
00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:41.119
always fouling. Check ball. You can't check ball. You didn't

279
00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:45.480
even win the last point. I literally just want in

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what universe that kind of back and forth, the kind

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00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:54.640
that goes on forever, never actually ruins anything, because nobody

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really wants the game to stop. The arguing is the game.

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It was loud and completely them, the kind of noise

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that if I heard it from someone else's house might

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bother me, But coming from my own driveway, from my boys,

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it's the best sound in the world, because that's the

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sound of brothers being brothers, that's the sound of cousins

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becoming friends. That's the sound of Sunday afternoon, doing exactly

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00:18:23.160 --> 00:18:26.400
what it was made for, and inside it was just

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00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:30.680
me and Jeremy and the younger girls, and everything slowed down.

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We started making dinner together, nothing fancy, nothing complicated, just

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real simple, the kind of meal that comes together with conversation,

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with movement, with comfort. Jeremy was doing his thing, steady focused.

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He has this way in the kitchen where he doesn't

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00:18:49.240 --> 00:18:53.480
say much, but everything he's doing is intentional. He's shopping,

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00:18:53.559 --> 00:18:57.119
he's prepping. He's already two steps ahead of where I am.

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00:18:57.720 --> 00:18:59.960
I don't even have to ask for the cutting board

298
00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:03.200
just appear. I don't have to ask him to grab

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00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:06.440
the olive oil. It's already on the counter. He's the

300
00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:08.960
kind of partner in the kitchen, the kind that knows

301
00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:12.000
the next move before you've made the current one. I

302
00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:15.920
was moving between things, checking on the girls, hoping where needed,

303
00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:19.559
starring something on the stove, and then walking away from

304
00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:22.680
it because I trusted that nothing was going to burn yet.

305
00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:28.039
We were talking, but not about anything important, little things.

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00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:31.319
Something one of the kids said earlier, something funny we

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00:19:31.400 --> 00:19:34.319
noticed at the art show. He thought that didn't really

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00:19:34.359 --> 00:19:37.519
go anywhere, but neither of us minded. That's one of

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00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:39.960
the best parts of being married. For a while, you

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00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.000
don't always need the conversation to be about something. Sometimes

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00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:47.440
you're just keeping each other company in the room. That's enough.

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00:19:48.039 --> 00:19:51.839
There's something about cooking together that feels grounding. After a

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00:19:51.880 --> 00:19:55.680
full day like that. It brings everything back in, like

314
00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:58.440
the day had been spread out wide and now it

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00:19:58.519 --> 00:20:01.440
was being gathered back in to the center. And I

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00:20:01.480 --> 00:20:04.720
want to share this recipe with you because honestly, this

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00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:07.160
is a good one. It's the kind of dinner I

318
00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:11.160
make on Sunday sometimes when I want everybody fed without

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00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:15.119
losing my mind. I call it Sunday sheet pan chicken.

320
00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:20.160
It's a one pan dinner. It's forgiving, It feeds a crowd,

321
00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:23.160
and it tastes like something you put a lot more

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00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:26.880
effort into than you actually did. Here's how it goes.

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00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:30.279
You take a big sheet pan. I use the biggest

324
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one I own, because we feed an army chicken thighs,

325
00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:38.160
bone in, skin on. If you can get them, the

326
00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:41.680
flavor of those is just better. You lay them out

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00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:47.279
across the pan. Then you add baby potatoes. Have not

328
00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:51.319
whole hererot's peeled and cott into thick chunks, a hole

329
00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:55.759
onion sliced into wedges, a few hole garlic globes just

330
00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:00.599
dropped right in there. You drizzle everything generously with oil.

331
00:21:01.240 --> 00:21:07.640
Then you season salt, pepper, smoke paprika. That's the one

332
00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:11.279
that makes the whole thing tastes like a Sunday garlic powder,

333
00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:15.839
a little dried thyme, a little dried rosemary. You toss

334
00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:19.200
everything together right on the pan with your hands until

335
00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:22.720
it's all coated. Then you tuck a few lemon slices

336
00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:27.000
in between the chicken thighs. That's the secret. The lemon

337
00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:31.640
roasts down and gives everything this brightness that cuts through

338
00:21:31.799 --> 00:21:35.480
all the richness. Bake it at four hundred degrees for

339
00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:39.279
about forty five minutes until the chicken skin is crispy

340
00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:42.839
and the potatoes are golden brown on the bottom. That's it.

341
00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:46.799
That's the whole thing. When it comes out of the oven,

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00:21:47.160 --> 00:21:52.480
the smell of it fills the entire house. Roasted garlic, lemon,

343
00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:57.400
smoky paprika, crispy chicken. It's the kind of smell that

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00:21:57.519 --> 00:22:02.039
travels around the corner, down the hall and out the

345
00:22:02.119 --> 00:22:04.920
back door. Even it's the kind of smell that makes

346
00:22:04.920 --> 00:22:07.839
the boys come in from the driveway without even having

347
00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:10.880
to call them. That's how you know it worked. The

348
00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:14.000
other thing I love about this dinner is the leftovers.

349
00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:18.039
If you make extra, and we always do, you can

350
00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:20.599
pull the chicken off the bone the next day, throw

351
00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:24.079
it on top of a salad, or shred it into

352
00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:27.519
a wrap, and the second day version is almost as

353
00:22:27.559 --> 00:22:30.720
good as the first. That's a Sunday meal that keeps

354
00:22:30.759 --> 00:22:33.960
giving you Sundays. The younger girls who are right there

355
00:22:33.960 --> 00:22:40.279
with us through all of it, talking, helping, laughing, asking questions,

356
00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:43.319
wanting to help be part of it. Can I stir?

357
00:22:44.119 --> 00:22:47.680
What's that? Why does it smell like that? Can I taste?

358
00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:51.640
And you realize this is just as important as everything

359
00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:55.960
else we did today. This moment right here. It's not big,

360
00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:59.240
it's not loud, it's not the kind of thing that

361
00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:02.720
would make a high light reel, but it's full because

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00:23:02.759 --> 00:23:06.240
they're learning something they don't even know they're learning. Hai

363
00:23:06.359 --> 00:23:10.200
kitchen feels when it's home. HOI meal comes together, How

364
00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:12.680
mom and dad works side by side without having to

365
00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:17.079
say much. That's the stuff that becomes their normal. That's

366
00:23:17.079 --> 00:23:21.079
the stuff that becomes how they remember home years from

367
00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:24.839
now when they're standing in their own kitchens. They're going

368
00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:28.200
to do something they won't even know why, and it'll

369
00:23:28.200 --> 00:23:31.680
be because of a Sunday light this one. Maybe the

370
00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:34.839
way they hold their wooden spoon. Maybe the way they

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00:23:34.839 --> 00:23:37.200
stand next to somebody they love and don't need to

372
00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:40.799
fill the silence. Maybe the way they trust that the

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00:23:40.839 --> 00:23:43.200
food will turn out even when the kitchen is a

374
00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:47.720
little chaotic. That's not something you teach with work. That's

375
00:23:47.720 --> 00:23:50.920
something they absorb. We don't always get to see them

376
00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:53.480
absorb it, but we get to do it in front

377
00:23:53.480 --> 00:23:58.000
of them. That counts for something, That counts for a lot. Actually,

378
00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:01.279
And I had this moment standing there in the kitchen,

379
00:24:01.480 --> 00:24:04.680
listening to the boys outside, watching the girls inside, Jeremy

380
00:24:04.759 --> 00:24:07.279
right there next to me, and I just thought, this

381
00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:12.559
is it. This is the balance, the loud and quiet,

382
00:24:13.680 --> 00:24:17.599
the chaos and the calm, the together and the separate,

383
00:24:18.599 --> 00:24:23.200
all happening at the same time, different rooms, different rhythms,

384
00:24:23.960 --> 00:24:27.400
different versions of the same family, all running on the

385
00:24:27.400 --> 00:24:32.519
same heartbeat somehow. And nobody's planned this, nobody scheduled it.

386
00:24:32.519 --> 00:24:35.720
It just happened. This is the thing about a real Sunday.

387
00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:40.000
You can't manufacture this. You can only show up to it.

388
00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:43.279
You can only be present enough to notice it. And

389
00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:45.960
the older I get, the more I think that's the

390
00:24:46.039 --> 00:24:50.720
actual job, not the planning, not the scheduling, not the

391
00:24:50.759 --> 00:24:55.359
constant orchestrating that big family life can turn into the noticing.

392
00:24:55.680 --> 00:25:00.400
The noticing is the thing. Eventually everyone came back in.

393
00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:04.599
The boys came in, sweaty loud, just talking about the

394
00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:07.640
game like it was the championship of the world. Did

395
00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:10.960
you see that shot? That was a good shot. It

396
00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:13.880
was a great shot. You're the only one who thinks that.

397
00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:17.759
The girls were already setting things on the table. The

398
00:25:17.799 --> 00:25:20.759
smell from the oven had already done half the work

399
00:25:20.839 --> 00:25:24.839
of bringing everybody in. And then we all sat down together,

400
00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:29.039
and that's when it hits you again. I'll fold the tablets,

401
00:25:29.559 --> 00:25:33.799
not just with food, but with people, with energy, with

402
00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:37.880
stories from the day, everybody sharing different parts of what

403
00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:42.359
they saw, what they liked, what stood out. Somebody bringing

404
00:25:42.440 --> 00:25:45.559
up the robot art, somebody bringing up the basketball play

405
00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:48.519
that nobody else was there for, but they were going

406
00:25:48.519 --> 00:25:51.640
to hear about it anyway. Somebody asking somebody else to

407
00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:55.599
pass something. For the third time, two conversations going at once,

408
00:25:56.160 --> 00:26:00.880
three four, It all overlaps, but somehow it makes sense.

409
00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:05.240
It always makes sense at our table. Somebody asks somebody

410
00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:08.799
else what they like best from the day. Somebody else

411
00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:13.000
interrupts to say they liked it best. Somebody under ten

412
00:26:13.079 --> 00:26:16.480
years old has a very strong opinion about what a

413
00:26:16.519 --> 00:26:20.640
particular piece of art look like and is being absolutely

414
00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:24.720
steamrolled by it. Somebody is reaching across the table for

415
00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:28.279
bread without saying excuse me, and I'm letting it go

416
00:26:28.440 --> 00:26:31.400
because I'm tired and the food is good and I'm

417
00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:35.359
not picking battles. Tonight, Jeremy's at the head at the table,

418
00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:38.240
just kind of taking it in. He doesn't talk a

419
00:26:38.279 --> 00:26:41.759
lot at dinner. He listens. He'll through out one well

420
00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:45.519
timeline that gets everybody laughing, and then go right back

421
00:26:45.559 --> 00:26:49.200
to his plate. That's his rhythm. I love watching him

422
00:26:49.240 --> 00:26:53.200
at dinner. I love watching all of them because thirteen

423
00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:55.960
kids at the table is a lot. But on a

424
00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:59.559
Sunday like this one, after a day like that, one

425
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:03.960
doesn't feel like a lot. It feels exactly right. And

426
00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:06.799
I think that's what made the day so special. It

427
00:27:06.839 --> 00:27:09.680
wasn't planned to be anything big. It wasn't a holiday,

428
00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:13.480
it wasn't an event. We built up for weeks. It

429
00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:22.400
was just a Sunday, but it had everything. Creativity, connection, movement, stillness, family.

430
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:26.759
It had art and noise and quiet. It had crispy

431
00:27:26.839 --> 00:27:29.799
chicken and roasted lemon and the smell of olive oil

432
00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:33.559
and rosemary. It had a basketball game that nobody won

433
00:27:33.720 --> 00:27:37.799
and nobody lost because nobody was actually keeping score. It

434
00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:41.359
had thirteen names called from the front door. It had

435
00:27:41.400 --> 00:27:43.759
a husband who didn't have to stay much to be

436
00:27:43.880 --> 00:27:47.279
the steadiest person in the room. It had little hands

437
00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:50.759
stirring pots they could barely reach. It had the kind

438
00:27:50.839 --> 00:27:53.720
of full table you don't get every night, even when

439
00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:57.880
you live like this. It had everything. And those are

440
00:27:57.960 --> 00:28:01.839
the days I think we forget to appreciate sometimes because

441
00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:07.680
we're always waiting for big moments, the big milestones, the trips,

442
00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:11.720
the vacations, the events that feel important enough to remember.

443
00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:15.960
But this, this is what builds a life. Days like this,

444
00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:20.480
Moments like this, the Sundays that don't make the calendar,

445
00:28:21.079 --> 00:28:23.880
the ones that don't get a name, the ones that

446
00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:27.200
just happened because you showed up to them. When I'm older,

447
00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:30.599
when the kids are grown, when this house is quieter

448
00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:33.960
than I can even imagine, right now. These are the

449
00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:37.039
days I'm going to be reaching for, not the ones

450
00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:40.240
with the cake and candles, the ones where everybody was

451
00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:44.480
just home. I'll remember the basketball game I never watched,

452
00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:47.079
but I heard the whole time, The smell of the

453
00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:49.880
chicken in the oven, The way the girls stood up

454
00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:52.759
on their tiptoes to see what was happening on the stove.

455
00:28:53.559 --> 00:28:55.960
The way Jeremy looked at me from across the kitchen

456
00:28:56.319 --> 00:28:59.039
when neither of us said anything. The way the table

457
00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:02.200
sounded when everybody he finally sat down. The way the

458
00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:06.000
day ended with no big announcement, no big finale, just

459
00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:11.319
a slow, full quiet That's what I'll remember, not the year,

460
00:29:12.039 --> 00:29:15.799
not the date, the feeling. So if you're listening to this,

461
00:29:16.599 --> 00:29:19.279
take a second to think about your last normal day,

462
00:29:19.640 --> 00:29:22.440
the one you didn't think twice about, the one that

463
00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:26.240
didn't seem worth remembering. There was probably something in it

464
00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:29.839
that mattered more than you realized. It looks somebody gave

465
00:29:29.880 --> 00:29:33.039
you a laugh. You didn't write down a meal. Somebody

466
00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:35.960
just happened to be at the table for a small

467
00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:39.480
thing that years from now you'd give anything to have

468
00:29:39.559 --> 00:29:43.079
one more time. A Sunday that didn't seem like much

469
00:29:43.400 --> 00:29:46.759
a meal. Nobody planned a whole week around a drive

470
00:29:46.839 --> 00:29:50.440
home where somebody was a little tired and a little quiet,

471
00:29:50.519 --> 00:29:53.920
and nobody was fighting. A sound from the next room

472
00:29:53.960 --> 00:29:57.599
that meant your kids were still under your roof, a

473
00:29:57.720 --> 00:30:01.640
husband or a wife, or a sibling or a parent

474
00:30:01.880 --> 00:30:04.759
or a friend who just happened to be there. Don't

475
00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:07.119
wait for the big moments to be the only ones

476
00:30:07.160 --> 00:30:12.359
you let yourself love. Love the small ones, love the sundays,

477
00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:17.279
love the quiet ones, love the loud ones. Love them

478
00:30:17.319 --> 00:30:22.759
while they're happening, because sometimes the most ordinary days are

479
00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:26.119
the ones that stay with you forever. Thanks for being

480
00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:29.240
here with us. This is We are the Hansens, and

481
00:30:29.319 --> 00:30:30.359
we'll see you next time.