Dinner with the Smileys Paperback – September 16, 2014

I thought that this was a great story and an even greater concept. I had read previous books by the author and previous reviews and felt that the author was unfairly "dissed" by other military wives. I think that even among the community of military spouses and families, there is a dividing line between those who spend a career deployed and those who are only deployed in times of war and conflict. My grandmother was the spouse of a Submariner who spent six months of nearly every year of their marriage deployed. That is what Gram signed up for...and 5 of the six months that he was not at sea, he was preparing to be so. There were also the late night calls..."be at lower base at 0:300 and be prepared to be gone for a while". Gramp was very literally a guest in his own home when he was stateside, Gram ruled the roost and made all household purchases and decisions. She was in many ways, a single mother and she did it well; but she was very aware of the role that she had signed up for. My heart goes out to all of those who did not expect 10 years of near steady deployments and for those who chose to go IA. I do not know what Justin's deal was, but here in my community, one year IA in a war zone equates to three years in service. For those nearing retirement 3 for 1 is a deal that many cannot and will not pass up. Sarah made the best of the year and her boys learned lessons that will last them a lifetime. When they leave the comfort of home and go out into the "real world" those lessons learned will serve them well. A wonderful story and a wonderful learning experience for all who participated, Fair winds and following seas, Smiley family and Sarah...Bravo Zulu from New London!!!

I am fortunate to live in the same Maine city as Sarah Smiley and her family. Soon after moving here her weekly column started appearing in our local newspaper. I came to enjoy her column and looked forward to reading it each week.Over the course of her husband's year-long deployment an occasional column would talk about the weekly dinners with the Smileys. These dinners and columns would lead to her book "Dinners with the Smileys" I looked forward to its publication and as soon as it became available on Kindle, I purchased it and set about reading it.Ms Smiley is a gifted writer and the book takes us through a year of family dinners with persons both famous and not quite so famous. From the boy's teachers to the Governor of the state of Maine. From college hockey players to one of Maine's U.S. Senators.The dinners themselves are entertaining, sometimes raucous, sometimes quite reflective. But this book is about so much more than those dinners. At its base is family. Not only the Smiley family, although in itself that would be a good read. It is also about the (extended) military family and its uniqueness in our society. But, as important as these are, it is the family we know as community that stands out in Ms Smiley's writings. Church, school, youth sports and neighbors are all a part of that family and were the willing surrogates for Dustin during his deployment.This book will have you laughing at times, crying at times, but will entertain you throughout.Dustin, Sarah, Ford, Owen & Lindell - I thank all of you for your service and your sacrifice.Lindell - I thank you for one of the best chuckles I have had in years - we are kindred spirits.

Reading "Dinner with the Smileys" was often like peeking into my own life. While I have 1 boy and 2 girls, there are still so many commonalities that Sarah has captured with her story telling, that is important, especially to military families. We have our individual struggles that come along with deployments, however at the end of the day we are all going through the heartache of missing our loved one. I could specifically relate to her struggles with Ford, who dealt with his father's absence in that typical pre-teen angst sort of way. Sullen, moody, stubborn. My own son went through the same struggles as a pre-teen and teenager while my husband was deployed.Capturing that feeling when our loved one leaves is also something I felt kinship with. The feeling when you are at the airport just waiting and don't have the words to say what you are feeling, but don't want to make small talk either. That feeling when you don't want to walk into your house that is already keenly feeling the absence of that one person, even if it has only been a few hours.I am passing this book along to many people I know, because as Sarah states in Chapter 1 - "This loneliness is not military families' alone. It's shared by widows and widowers, divorcees, singles, and even people in unhappy marriages. Every night, thousands of people eat alone". Perhaps by reading this book more of us will realize that we can all reach out and include those people, make them feel part of a family, if only for one night a week.

I'm not part of a military family, and neither are the two people with whom I've shared a copy of this book (my 40-year-old brother-in-law and 90-year-old Great Aunt); yet we each equally enjoyed every page. Yes, the book is about the hardships associated with deployment, and the relationships between a husband and wife, and a mother and her sons. But ultimately it's mostly about community. I found myself constantly thinking "I could do that... I could invite someone to my home for dinner and it wouldn't matter that I can't cook and that I have bare walls because of an inability to decide what to hang on them." Sarah Smiley shows us that the most important part of hosting a dinner isn't the state of your home or the taste of your meal, but the relationships you build in the process. And while she encourages the reader in the most subtle way possible to give it a try, she cracks you up in the process. The five people in this story - Sarah, her husband Dustin, and their three young boys - are true characters with whom you can't help but fall in love. I finished the book last night and still wanted more (especially the stories about Sarah's youngest son Lindell. What a hoot!). Keep writing Sarah!!! You and your family definitely made me smile!

I felt like I was a fly on the wall in the Smileys' house watching all these experiences/dinners unfold. A heartwarming book from beginning to end with a mix of laughter, happiness and saddnes. I can't pick my favorite dinner because there are so many. Dinner with the Smileys remind you its the small things in life that you remember, those everyday moments of acts of kindness that we too often forget to do. A must read this summer you'll start and won't be able to put it down.