Dinner with the Smileys: One Military Family, One Year of Heroes, and Lessons for a Lifetime Audiobook

Fifty-two guests take turns filling a military father's chair at his family's dinner table while he serves his yearlong deployment.

The week before Thanksgiving 2011, Dustin Smiley left for a yearlong military deployment. Soon after, his son Ford, eleven, invited Senator Susan Collins to fill his dad's chair at dinner. On January 3, 2012, Senator Collins came to dinner ... and brought brownies.

So began Dinner with the Smileys, nationally syndicated columnist Sarah Smiley's fifty-two-week commitment to fill her husband's place at the family dinner table with interesting people--from schoolteachers to Olympians, professional athletes to famous authors, comedians to politicians--and unique role models for her three sons, even as she knows Dustin's seat cannot truly be "filled" until he is home again for the fifty-third dinner.

Why dinner? Because dinnertime is often the loneliest time for people living alone. If houses and apartments were like dollhouses with one side totally exposed, Sarah says, we'd see plenty of people eating alone to the glow of a television.

That was the fate Sarah feared for herself and her children during Dustin's absence. So she opened her home, and she and the kids sent invitations. And they found that a surprising number of people really are available for dinner. You just have to ask.

In a time when popular culture leads us to believe that the family dinner table is dead, Dinner with the Smileys shows people that time spent with family, friends, and neighbors is still very much part of the American lifestyle.

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"I've had this book in my library for a listen for about 9 months. I thought the story line sounded intriguing so I recommended this to our book club at work. We meet in a few weeks to discuss it and I hope every loved it as much as I did. It was a wonderful insiders look into a military family's life. Both beautiful and sometimes sad, it really makes you appreciate the time you have with your own family. I loved seeing how the three boys grew in character as they met many different people. A great listen although originally I worried about it being narrated by the author, not an actor or an established narrator, but listening to Sarah was like listening to a best friend. I was sad to have it end. I also bought the book so I could have it to read and I am glad I did as now I can see the photos of the Smileys and their guests. I can't wait for our book club to meet to talk about their story and look at their Face Book page as well. A definite gem."

— Samantha (5 out of 5 stars)