Wednesday, October 11, 2006

A tisket a tasket.

A note for the children who someday will call me "mother" and the grandchildren who will call me "bubbe," I can only hope.

I went grocery shopping today and in the produce section I stopped by the pears. On sale, 10 pounds for 10 dollars, I picked up three. And while handling the oddly-shaped fruits, I thought of my father. My father who used to cut slivers of his pears for my brothers and I. My fruit intake as a child consisted of pieces of pear my father would slice off, paper towel cupping the green fruit and short knife slicing pieces small enough and big enough for a child. I loved him more for each piece he gave me. He'd do the same with apples, but it's pears that remind me of my father.

It's the only produce that reminds me of anyone, really. Keep small things like these. They'll keep you smiling while handling fruit in the produce aisle thousands of miles from the people who helped you grow.