Start Up the Taco Tournament!

“Should we just invite the Haws over? Start up the Taco Tournament?”

The sky had opened up and, with it, our evening; soggy fields were postponing our sons’ baseball game again. Everything in me ached to say no.  The last time my floors had been mopped skinny jeans were still in style. The bathroom hadn’t been wiped down in ages, there was definitely dirty underwear on the floor upstairs. My grocery order was scheduled to be picked up tomorrow.

“Sure, but I’m not ready. I need help pulling it together,” I said instead. Matt fired off a text inviting our esteemed judges to a taco showdown in an hour, made a last-second turn into Meijer, and we tore through the place like the McCallisters at O’Hare, grabbing a bag of grapes, two boxes of ice cream treats, and a tri-fold poster board.

Two years ago, after enjoying the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, our family launched the Wettersten Family Pizza tournament. We polled our friends to find out the 16 best pizza places in town, seeded the bracket, and systematically eliminated sub-par parlors via our single-elimination tournament. 18 months later, we’d hosted 16 families for dinner and crowned Flingers the greatest pizza place in all of Bloomington-Normal. Now we’re doing it again, but this time with tacos.

Can I tell you a secret? It’s all a ploy.

In 2021, Cigna’s U.S. Loneliness Index found that 58% of Americans identify as lonely. Last May, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, the US Surgeon General, declared Loneliness an epidemic and released an 82-page advisory on the ‘Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community.’ As Christians, we believe that the second-greatest command is to “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). But gosh, it’s hard to love our neighbors when we hardly know them. It’s hard to love ourselves when our hearts ache with loneliness.

Need a little push to widen your circle? Open your door? Set a few extra places at the table? Maybe lean into silly. Strangely enough, it feels more approachable to invite people under the ploy of a taco match-up. Maybe it’s my own insecurity of not being interesting enough, or a good enough cook, or something enough. But they’ve said yes every time. And I’ve got a bracket to fill up, so I’m looking far and wide for yeses.

Can I tell you one more secret? It’s better when it’s imperfect. 16 gatherings have taught me even when I want to say no, to say yes. Say yes when you still need to paint the trim. Say yes when there are garage sale items piled up in the entryway. We need connection way more than we need cleanliness. There’s something kind about being brought into someone’s real life; being the friends they allow to see the shoe pile and laundry baskets.

Our guests burst through the door as my youngest and I were finishing drawing the new tournament bracket onto the trifold and mere minutes after Matt had arrived with the tacos. The floors had been vacuumed but remained unmopped. Fortunately, the undies had all been scooped into hampers. Nary a guest judge noticed. Instead, lemonade was poured, heads bowed and tacos blessed, and, not at all unlike the believers in Acts 2, we broke tortillas in our home and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.

We did more than declare Veracruz’s tacos superior to Taco Bell’s that night. (Just barely, word to the wise: make sure your kid-to-adult ratio is close when matching up authentic to fast food!) Like Jessica says, “Special things happen when people gather together around a meal.” We laughed and listened, filled hearts as full as bellies.  I’m not sure if it’s magic or a miracle, but there’s just something about inviting others to your table. It wins every time.

Amanda Wettersten is a wife, mom, and people-person.  After a move to a new city, Amanda felt like she was drowning in loneliness, so she set the intention to share a meal with 100 people in a calendar year. That changed everything. Now Amanda does a “100 People Project” each year making meaningful connections with old friends and new, people inside her home and out. Find her ideas and inspiration @onehundredpeopleproject on Facebook, Instagram, and her website.

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