– Monday Muse –
Dear One, Ron and I were heading south through Cadillac when I mentioned picking up something at McDonald’s, but then I thought of Walraven’s. “There is a produce store just across the road from there. I could run in and get us a couple of apples instead?” Ron agreed, “That sounds better to me.”
Because Walraven’s market had an open-air side to it, much of the produce was visible from our parked car. Before getting out, I took a few seconds to take in the scene. For Walraven’s had for years and years been one of my mother’s favorite stops.
When Mother was still living, we often heard about the great produce she found there. She seldom missed the opportunity to follow up with colorful, detailed descriptions of what she had come across. Just how much can one say about apples, blueberries, pears, plums, strawberries…oranges? Unless you heard it from Mother, you will never know. When it came to fruit my mother was a nut. I say that with love and respect. For it was a true delight to experience her pleasure with whatever she deemed to be…a great find…whether it be fruit, friend, or adventure. For Mother most everything in life was an adventure.
Once inside, between bins of fruits, and vegetables, I thought of the many times Mother must have shopped there, while Dad waited patiently in the car. I walked down most of the aisles, stood where she might have stood, and tried to see the produce with her eyes, but I couldn’t. When I noticed the clerk, I wondered how often Mother had expressed her curiosity over a new variety of fruit while adding more to her basket than she had intended. Not a problem. She would certainly deliver to someone, somewhere, a bit of her bounty, perhaps with a warm, baked good straight from her oven.
As we drove on down 115, we passed very close to the nearly hidden country cemetery…where Dad and Mom had been laid to rest. Oh, how I wish I had thought to fill a small fruit basket to leave at the graveside. If Mom happened to be gazing down from Heaven, it would surely make her smile. But that was unlikely, for she was no doubt busy doing something adventurous.
Perhaps, right now, she is in Heaven’s kitchen baking something deliciously fruity for God. Truly, that would not surprise those who knew her. No, not at all.
When I came across this verse, you can be sure it made me smile.
“They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing.”
Psalm 92:14
Fresh and flourishing…that was Mother. At eighty-seven, she was fruitful, still making adventures out of daily life while caring and sharing for those in need of attention. Now, years after her passing, people still smile at the mention of her name.
Blessings,
Susanne
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