Tric Kearney: 'I opened the oven and took out the steaks. One, two, three, four. Where were five and six?'

LAST week, in the honeymoon days of the return of my college children, I became quite emotional as I prepared dinner for the six of us, writes Tric Kearney.

It had been months since we’d all sat at the kitchen table together. My heart sang as I imagined the feast we’d enjoy, yer man and myself at each end of the table, relishing the noise of sibling banter. The Waltons or Brady Bunch would have nothing on us.