A GIFT FROM THE SOUR CHERRY TREE

Recently, while I was in Grass Valley, I had the honor of working on an organic farm. It was the middle of July, hot and dry. I was working at the U-Pick site and in between avid pickers, I would pick fruit for the stand. My assignment this day was to pick from the sour cherry trees.

I strapped my picking bucket ( a shallow 1/2 circle plastic bucket) around my head, resting on my stomach and headed off to the dwarf sour cherry trees, which actually looked more like very tall bushes, (way over my head).

I noticed that up close, the cherry trees were the cherries I had always seen depicted in pictures. Their bright red color reminded me of Christmas! I began as I always do, with an introduction of myself, complimenting the tree on it's beauty (just as you would a friend), asking permission (simply showing respect) and always in gratitude for the sacred honor of being totally connected with part of creation.

The sun was very hot and so I moved inside of the tree I was completely surrounded by the branches. It felt like I was being caressed in the arms of a lover, protected from the sun, basking in the gentle breeze (spirit) that gently rustled through the branches and I was feeling protected, safe and loved. The cherries can be quite sticky, especially when the pit is occasionally left behind but it wasn't a 'sticky' I was wanting to get off in a hurry, it seemed important to savor entirely what the tree was offering.

While the tree was providing all the above mentioned gifts to me, I realized that I too was providing a gift to the tree. I was helping to lighten its load. Some of the branches were so full of cherries they were a strain on the branches. My time alone with the sour cherry tree was truly intimate encounter and a sacred honoring on both sides.

After my first day working on the organic farm, it was very clear that I had a Spiritual Encounter with the Divine right in the middle of everyday living.

BEING CONNECTED

It was while I was on my second trip to Ireland that I became fully conscious of the food I was eating. At the family's house that I was staying at, they had a very small refrigerator compared to what I had been used to in the states...something we may find in a recreational vehicle. So shopping was not a once a week excursion. Everything was bought locally from the little village. Bread was bought at the bakery, meat at the butcher shop, fish from the fresh fish shop, fruit and vegetables were purchased at the local farm stand and everything else came from the neighborhood market.

'Living in the moment,' was the norm. I came away with a new appreciation of the food and products I was consuming. When you purchase your fish with the head still attached and the eyes still open, it became a sacred exchange of awareness and gratitude, for me. I became aware of the life that had been sacrificed for my health and well-being and of another and gratitude followed; that another creature would sacrifice their life for me.

I became aware and present with everything I bought and put in my mouth. Remembering the grace that we offered before dinner as a child, all stages of nourishment, now, became a prayer.

TRAVEL TO CHICAGO; THUNDERSTORMS AND FLOODING

Leaving after a month is Grass Valley, CA, I was heading back east, feeling like I wanted to visit my relatives, once last time....once last time before what? Before the "J" word! You don't mean 'job' do you? Yes, it feels like the time is coming close for the end of my "Year in a Suitcase!" Certainly, the year, logistically is over, but I'm living in the 'Second Half of Life,' and it just didn't 'feel' like the year is up! So I packed my bags, adding one larger suitcase to my normal backpack and 22" carry-on and headed to Chicago, via Kansas and Missouri. I had a lovely visit with my brother/ cousin and families. For my short flight to Milwaukee, I decided that I would check my baggage, after all, it's just an hour, non-stop flight....what could possibly happen to my baggage? Flooding and thunderstorms, that's what! My flight was due to leave at 8:40PM and by midnight they had decided to detour the plane to Chicago where we could catch a flight the next morning to Milwaukee. (I was to fly to Milwaukee where my daughter had a basketball camp.) I at least had a sweater and shawl, oh, and of course my pillow, in my back pack and so I slept on the floor of Midway Airport in Chicago. 5AM announcement, "We'll let you know at 7:30AM when the Milwaukee airport will re-open! Now, it's time to take matters into my own hands! At least I was in Chicago and could get public transportation to my daughter's house, even if she wasn't there! The 'el' began to run again after closing down at midnight. So I hopped on the 'el,' to downtown, where I had to find the Metra rail train, (not so easy, however a lovely time to be in downtown Chicago), and took the hour plus train ride to the suburbs. When I arrived, it was pouring rain, so I treated myself to a 5 mile cab ride! Now there was a point to why I was telling this story....oh yes....while I made it to Chicago, my luggage spent the week in Milwaukee, and just arrived via Fed EX, 6 days after my journey had begun! The moral of the story....I never check my bag....but it did lead to an adventure!