Nourishing ourselves

Friday the Husband and I took the day off and went blueberry picking. Stopping to take the day off - from work and from errands - was a rare treat. So rare that I had to spend the first couple hours continuously reminding myself not to feel guilty that I wasn't at work, but to be present instead. Later in the day I heard a wonderful anecdote that resonated with me about this. The beginning of the anecdote is familiar, but it's the twist at the end which helped me gain perspective. It began with the story of a little girl walking down the beach. She finds lots of crabs washed up on the shore, and she begins to throw them back in the water one by one. An older man came along and grumbled to the little girl, "why are you bothering to throw them back in? Look how many there are. You will never make a difference." And the little girl responded, as she threw another one back in, "I made a difference to that one." Later in the day, eventually, it is time for the little girl to head home for dinner and to take care of her own pets. Had she thrown all the crabs back in? No. But it was still important for her to head home and nourish herself and to take care of her own loved ones. This act at the end of her day allowed for two things. One, for her to have energy to come back again tomorrow. Who knows, maybe by tomorrow she will have thought of a more effective way to save more crabs. Also, by making time to take care of her own pets, she was not creating the conditions for suffering, while working endlessly to prevent it elsewhere. Today was a day to put down the mantle of work for a moment and to take time to nourish my own marriage.

We picked our berries at Doe Orchards and also brought home a flat of B-grade peaches.

We also thoroughly enjoyed a lunch at Strip T's that day. I highly recommend both Doe Orchards and Strip T's.