Dinner Guest #25 - The S. Family

June 20, 2012

Every Tuesday night, my husband plays basketball at our church with a bunch of guys.  One of the other regular players is Mr. S, a young, soft spoken, Samoan man. 

Ryan suggested that we invite Mr. and Mrs. S. over for dinner on Father’s day.  They have one child, Baby J., and no close family in town.  Ryan joked,

“I want to see what a Samoan eats like!”

Mr. S. isn’t a giant man, but I planned a hearty meal just to be safe.  I made grilled Asian chicken kabobs, corn pudding, blueberry muffins, spinach salad, chips-n-salsa, and served ice cream sundaes for dessert.  Mrs. S. brought a savory dish of au gratin potatoes.

I had seen Mr. and Mrs. S. at church a few times, but never took the opportunity to talk to them.  While Ryan and Mr. S. chatted in the backyard at the grill, Mrs. S. and I prepped the salad and muffins in the kitchen.  Passing the get-to-know-you questions back and forth, I learned that Mrs. S. grew up in Orem, Utah, met Mr. S. in high school, and played basketball.  I casually threw out that my sister Carey used to be a high school basketball coach in Orem many years ago and faintly in the distance,

“It’s a small world after all……..” began to play.

Not only did Mrs. S. know my sister, “Coach Potter,” but the coincidences continued when Mr. S. said my sister was his high school English teacher.  They started looking at me a little closer and said,

“Yeahhhh, you look like her!”

I wish I looked like my five-foot-seven, beautiful, athletic, sister Carey, but I'll take the compliment regardless.  

During dinner my children tried to guess where Mr. S. was born.  Rock blurted,

“ENGLAND!”

Despite his Samoan heritage, Mr. S. was born in Northern California.  He is one of eight children and joked that in his family, there are seven black sheep.  I didn’t want to ask too many personal questions, but Mr. S. always had such interesting answers.  His father never had a formal education.  Mr. S. is the first person in his family to attend college.  When his parents and siblings gather, it is not unusual for them to roast a whole pig, buried in the ground.  Mrs. S. had equally interesting stories.  One of her brothers is 6-foot, 7-inches.  She used to sell real estate and she lost 50 pounds through weight watchers.

Before the S. Family left, we took what has become our traditional group picture.  I couldn’t wait to email the photo to my sister and tell her about my small world experience.

So what does this Samoan eat like?

A gentleman.