Blueberries this way
I’m kind of addicted to picking blueberries. And eating them. I’ve gone blueberry picking 3 times this month. I never knew what I was missing!
My second blueberry picking trip was with my Mom and Little Miss Sunshine. Unlike our first picking trip, the day was clear and sunny and gorgeous. The blueberries had plumped and hung on the bushes in clumps singing in unison “pick me!! pick me!!” I never realized how many blueberries could grow on one bush. You could stand at one bush and pick probably a pound of blueberries or more by the handfuls. The sweet aroma like blueberry muffins hung in the air. I am definitely going to have to plant some blueberry bushes.
Once our buckets were full we headed back to the car to drive to the stand to pay for our treats. We had arrived before the rush and the street was filling up. I had parked on a slight incline and as I was backing up, I thought I was getting stuck on the hill. I made it out onto the street and realized I had run over their little wooden sign with an arrow that said, “blueberries” to help people know the blueberries were behind the row of apple trees. Oops.
Little Miss Sunshine was rather concerned. “You’re going to tell them you’re sorry you ran over their sign, aren’t you? You better tell them you’re sorry.” Oh…the values we instill in our children come to haunt our own actions. “Yes, Little Miss, I’ll tell them I’m sorry.” Although I really didn’t want to admit I’d knocked it over. I tried to stand it back up, but it needed a staple, or nail…or superglue.
As I was checking out, I could tell that Little Miss had an eagle eye on me to make sure I apologized. As I handed the dear owner my cash I said, “And…I accidentally ran over your blueberry sign.” She looked at me and said, “Oh, well did you put it back up?” I shifted my feet, “Uh, I tried, but I think it needs a staple to hold it together, I’m sorry.” There I said it. Whew. I loaded up a bag with cucumbers to kind of make up for the poor sign. I figured it was time to try to make pickles anyway. She said she’d have one of the guys look at it and put it back together.
We got in the car and I informed Little Miss that I had done my deed.
We returned to pick a few more pounds of blueberries one more time. There’s nothing like having a freezer full of blue summer in January to break the icy doldrums. I hoped the owner didn’t recognize me from the other day, and if she did, she didn’t mention it. She was just happy I bought 5 more pounds of berries, and some peppers and broccoli too. I did notice that the sign was back up, and had a little string for extra support. I parked on the road, nowhere close to the sign.
#3 Million Dollar Moments
Filed under Funnies, LOL, Little Miss Sunshine, million dollar moments, motherhood | Tags: berry picking, blueberries, kids, motherhood | Comment (0)
1,000 Million Dollar Moments
I was standing in line at the grocery store for what felt like forever. I don’t understand why whenever I go to the store there are 23 closed lanes and only 3 open lanes. I leaned on the edge of my cart, my eyes scanning the magazine covers. Rachel Ray’s latest recipes. Oprah’s latest diet. The most recent bachelor breakup (is anyone really surprised, seriously?). The Hills stars’ recent surgeries and botchups and breakups. As I stared at the mind-numbing celebrity tidbits that mean absolutely nothing and are mostly absurd, I wondered why in the world we are so obsessed with celebrity lives, and more recently, our fascination with reality stars. Is there a deep dissatisfaction with our everyday lives that causes us to want to live vicariously through other’s beach bodies and exotic getaways? Do our lives seem somehow less miserable when we realize the celebrity’s life isn’t perfect either?
Finally, it was my turn to check out and leave the muck behind, but the questions lingered. I tried to answer the question for myself – is there something about my own life, some boredom that makes me wish my life were grander or more exotic? The answer was a decided no.
The next day the kids and I picked blueberries in the rain with my sister-in-law and her kids. As we laughed at our silliness, I regretted leaving my camera in the car, because I wanted to remember the moment forever. I wanted to remember our 5 year old, 3 year olds and almost 2 year old with dripping hair in the warm summer rain carrying buckets full of bluberries. I wanted to remember my sister-in-law’s grinning face with hair dripping down the sides and her round pregnant belly underneath her turquoise raincoat. I wanted to remember my daughter and her 3-year-old cousin standing under a pink Dora umbrella laughing and munching big bright blueberries. I wanted to remember T-Rex determined to fill a bucket with berries all by himself. I wanted to remember my 18-month-old niece sitting down in the mud. These were every-day-moments that I knew would get lost in my memory if I didn’t capture them somehow.
Then I realized I had my answer to my earlier questions. I simply forget. I forget these everyday moments that are beautiful and full of life. I forget the vibrancy that is marriage and raising kids and taking care of a home. I forget the laughter once it’s over and tend to just remember the big highlights or the big lowlights. But this is what life is made up of – millions of moments with the people I love that I wouldn’t trade for a million dollars or any amount of fame or success or celebrity.
I decided to start a chronicle of these million dollar moments. I plan to blog 1,000 of them. Blueberry picking in the rain was #1. Hopefully in the process, you’ll recognize your own million dollar moments and remember how rich your life is day in and day out.
Filed under million dollar moments, motherhood | Tags: blueberries, kids, motherhood, rain | Comments (4)