The breakfast rule, or, when does brunch begin?

Recently a friend was trying to convince me that it was ok to have breakfast and brunch in the same day. I thought this was rubbish, as my understanding of brunch was a mash up of breakfast and lunch for those days when you sleep until is too late for the former, but too early for the latter. I argued this point to no avail until she left the breakfast table at my house to meet friends for an alledged brunch, which I maintain was actually a morning tea. If only I had been less distracted by my cup of tea and had thought to bring the dictionary to the party. According to the Australian version of the Collins English Dictionary (kindly gifted to the boy and I as a wedding present), brunch is a noun describing a meal eaten late in the morning, combining breakfast with lunch, and morning tea is the Australian equivalent of elvenses, comprised of a mid-morning snack with a cuppa. So, to the double dippers among you, I wave my dictionary in victory!

I know it's not earth shatteringly important, but I do enjoy being right almost as much as I enjoy a good breakfast.


I had an especially good breakfast this morning, after spending a little time in the garden. I watered and weeded and trimmed some of the more unruly plants. I finally got to eat one of my strawberries before the birds noticed that it was ripe, and I picked three more cucumbers off one of our very productive little plants.


By this point it was already a sunny and clear day, so I thought I might stop for a breakfast of zucchini chutney, gouda cheese and freshly picked cucumber on toast. I sat on the back deck and looked out at our little slice of urban jungle with the satisfaction of knowing that this is only the begining. Leigh and I will have our lives to grow and craft the garden, the home, the lifestyle that we dream of.


While we planned our wedding we had to take a long hard look at our values because we realised that every decision we were making was symbolic. We didn't just sign up to be together, but to be part of our community. This means that we have to garden, and cook good, healthy food, and have parties, and make experiences worth having because we promised each other that we would actively build the world that we want to live in. If the wedding day represents the ideal life, then every day after that is about building it together.


This year's resolution is simply to do things. To do them with thought, and care, and grace, but still to stop making excuses and get on with the doing. Doing, however, cannot happen on an empty stomach, so always, always breakfast first.

While stealing a quiet moment together, I turned to my husband and said,

"Look at all these people, Leigh. Every single one of them really loves us!"

As we stumbled towards the hotel from our wedding reception, back in my sensible boots and armed with treats from the day, the feeling we kept returning to was the overwhelming amount of love that we had experienced. The entire day was spent basking in the joy we felt about each other, and the excitement and support of our community. The people in our lives, both daily and less frequently, are the reason that we got married in the way that we did. As we had our celebrant explain on the day, it will be their presence, their act of wittnessing, and their endorsement of our marriage which will hold us to account for the promises we made. We are not an island. No matter how deeply we stare into eachother, we can not and will not cancel out the world around us, so it is important that our community is on board from the get go. After all, there may come a time when we need them to kick us in the pants and remind us of what we said, why we said it, and they all saw us say it, so we'd better lift our game.