Hey, none of us are perfect, and god knows I’m late far more often than I’d like. My only excuse is that my two small children slow every preparatory process to a crawl. I’ve learned to back time the beginning of “let’s get ready to go” to at least an hour earlier than I would need on my own. Sometimes two.
And that’s the way to do it. We went down to my sister’s house for Thanksgiving last year, about 100 miles away. Dinner was at 2. We got there at 3. People were already eating. My wife was miffed, but she had no standing to be miffed. Food was gonna get cold, we were an hour late, traffic notwithstanding, and it doesn’t matter if 2:00 is a weirdly early hour for dinner.
We’re doing Thanksgiving at my place this year, and unduly tardy latecomers get leftovers, just like at my sister’s house. Not if they’re just a few minutes late, of course, but food will be served as promptly as it is scheduled to be prepared, or as close as possible, for those hungry souls who respect other people enough to at least try to observe a schedule. Timing a big dinner ain’t easy.
