"Life does not seem to present itself to me for my convenience, to box itself up nicely so I can write about it with wisdom and a point to make before putting it on a shelf somewhere. Now, at this stage of my life, I understand just enough about life to understand that I do not understand much of anything." (38-39) Small Victories by Anne Lamott
"You know all those things I've always wanted to do? I should go do them. What am I waiting for? What are you waiting for?" Life has been really hitting me on the head with this realization lately. I feel as if I am standing under a tree of ripe apples and one by one they fall and hit me on the head to remind me that time is passing and I have no control over anything at all.
So, I should really take a first step to refurbish this life and not wait. I don't understand much of anything, but I do believe in one thing: life is all about the process of living, of evolving, of trying, of growing, of learning, of connecting, of harvesting. I know that I haven't been given all of the privileges I have to simply sit under the apple tree as the fruit waits to be harvested when I can get up and harvest myself.
Once the apples are harvested, the making can happen. Bake pies and cakes and strudel. (Man, I love strudel!) Make sauce to can and gift. Slice and dip with your loved ones. Take a bite into the skin of an apple and let the juice dribble down your chin as the tart sweetness overwhelms you. Of course, I might fail or change course or run out of time and leave many of the apples unharvested, because life does not happen for my convenience.
Then, Robert Frost reminds me again that leaving some apples unharvested, deviating from our stated plan, can be sweet, too. Pick. Refurbish. Dig deep. Be present. Be authentic. Learn about yourself. Learn about life. Fill the soul. Fill the larder. Pass on with passion what will be left behind. Unharvested, yet oh so full.
Unharvested
by Robert Frost
A scent of ripeness from over a
wall.
And come to leave the routine road
And look for what had made me stall,
There sure enough was an apple tree
That had eased itself of its summer load,
And of all but its trivial foliage free,
Now breathed as light as a lady's fan.
For there had been an apple fall
As complete as the apple had given man.
The ground was one circle of solid red.
May something go always unharvested!
May much stay out of our stated plan,
Apples or something forgotten and left,
So smelling their sweetness would be no theft.
And come to leave the routine road
And look for what had made me stall,
There sure enough was an apple tree
That had eased itself of its summer load,
And of all but its trivial foliage free,
Now breathed as light as a lady's fan.
For there had been an apple fall
As complete as the apple had given man.
The ground was one circle of solid red.
May something go always unharvested!
May much stay out of our stated plan,
Apples or something forgotten and left,
So smelling their sweetness would be no theft.
