MARKETING
I like to take my basket
And go to market early–
Radishes are pinkest then,
Lettuces most curly.
Beets still pyramided
To a magenta crest;
Cauliflowers are snowballs;
Peas, their snappiest.
In the blue and silver
Of the rutabagas
Is material enough
For a dozen sagas.
An ode to summer
In each ripe tomato;
Laughter lurking in the eyes
Of every potato.
I like to market early—
It seems to me a stew
Is more savory if cabbages
And carrots taste of dew.
–Ethel Romig Fuller, Kitchen Sonnets
For my wonderful mom (who likes to market early)
“When Ella Fitzgerald sang “There’s someone I’m trying so hard to forget….don’t you want to forget someone too?”– these facile breathy lyrics struck me as an unexpectedly true expression of how it felt to be alive. This was experience at its most private and inarticulate: longing and loss.”
–Annie Dillard, An American Childhood
You are sitting in a cozy room in an easy chair and there’s a table across the room. And on this table there’s a piece of pie.
It’s not just any pie. It’s the most extraordinary pie, with a unique flavor–sweet, but not too sweet, with some tartness, and playful spices that linger on the tongue. The crust has many delicious layers–too many to count.
Every time you taste this pie you notice different things–it evolves on your tongue–dreamily the same and yet with different nuances. The pie challenges your tongue each time, as you linger over subtle undertones–is that cinnamon? A floral note? Perhaps ginger? You could eat this pie for years and taste different things. You can eat this pie slowly, at times, rolling each morsel sensually around in your mouth, or you can devour it hungrily, in large ravenous gulps.
It’s a greatly sensual pleasure eating this pie and yet spiritual as well, as the pie evokes feelings of comfort and wraps you in pleasurable memories and dreams of the delights ahead.
You can taste the love in this pie–it satisfies so many deep needs. Some you never knew you had, until you begin to eat these pieces, as they magically keep reappearing on the table. The pie comes from a pantry as large as the universe, so there will always be more of this pie as long as you desire it–and best of all, no calories and no guilt from this pie. Only pleasure.
You’ve never had a pie like this on your table before. You look at it from across the room. Do you stay in your chair? Or do you go across the room and enjoy this truly wonderful pie?
You were on your way home from work…around 4:30 pm on a Tuesday afternoon. Perhaps you were tired, perhaps you were in a hurry. The light turned red and you decided to go anyway. Because you ran that red light my brother is dead. You killed him with your car. He was on his bike crossing the street with a green light.
Because you ran that red light my brother is dead. Because you ran that red light my brother won’t see his daughters graduate from college. Because you ran that red light my nieces won’t have their father walk them down the aisle when they get married. Because you ran that red light my brother won’t get to be a grandfather. He would have been a wonderful grandpa. He loved kids.
You made a horrible mistake. And I have been very mad at you because you made this mistake. I am not mad at you anymore. I am just sad. Sad for my parents. Sad for my nieces and my brother’s wife. Sad for everyone who loved him. And I am sad for you. I can’t even imagine what it must feel like to know that because you made a mistake you killed someone. It’s something you have to live with the rest of your life. And it’s a heavy burden to bear at the age of 25.
I have made many mistakes in my life. I have done stupid things and impulsive things and been distracted while driving. I have been lucky that there weren’t severe consequences like this. I never deliberately ran a red light but I am human and humans make mistakes. We are all flawed. And that’s why I forgive you for killing my brother.
You have a choice to make now. How to go forward with your life. You can choose to wallow in your mistake and let the guilt consume you. Or you can decide to be a force of good in the world. You can take this mistake and learn from it and maybe teach others your lesson. You can talk at Driver’s Ed classes. You can do volunteer work. You can give whatever talents you have towards whatever charity has meaning for you. You can live in such a way that you are a tribute to my brother and also to yourself. I think it’s the only way for you to find peace. I wish this for you.
I forgive you.
Lynette
We are very excited about our Summer Shopping Adventure Contest…
“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it is over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”
–Mary Oliver
Vintage French Childrens Book Fables de La Fontaine / Rare 1982 Edition Illustrated by Romain Simon / Gautier Languereau Publishers
Penelope's Musings 