What lies ahead
On Christmas morning, my aunt told me about my grandma Mae growing up desperately poor in South Carolina in the 20's. Every year at Christmas time, a train would roll through their town and drop bags of supplies for the families who were struggling to make ends meet. The bags had pencils for school, paper, and sometimes, oranges and other citrus fruit. This was long before you could walk into a Whole Foods and buy summer fruit in the middle of winter. They hardly ate any fruits and vegetables in the winter, unless they preserved them by canning or pickling. So having an orange at Christmas time was a real treat. Especially because it wasn't guaranteed that the train or the fruit would come every year.
Getting that orange came to symbolize prosperity. Eating an orange in the middle of winter meant you were doing good. So my aunt carries on the tradition by putting an orange in her family's stockings for Christmas. An orange in your stocking to remind you that you're doing good. You're here at the end of another precious year on earth. This wonderful place we all share together.
So, maybe after that, what I'm about to say is going to sound odd. For some reason, it all fit together in my mind. So indulge me for a minute.
I like the story of the orange because it reminds me that life is precious and unpredictable. That is what makes it exciting. We don't always know what will happen, but we appreciate the good little things that do happen from day to day. The future is out there and we don't know what it is yet. Life will take us far and wide and we'll enjoy the beautiful moments because we know they are gifts. They are oranges in our stockings.
The last few days of work have been extraordinarily strange. The next few could be even more strange. Or they could be quiet and uneventful. It's reminded me that sometimes we have to prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and adapt to the rest. That's not the way it will always be, though. Just for now.
Here's an orange for all of us.
What lies ahead
On Christmas morning, my aunt told me about my grandma Mae growing up desperately poor in South Carolina in the 20's. Every year at Christmas time, a train would roll through their town and drop bags of supplies for the families who were struggling to make ends meet. The bags had pencils for school, paper, and sometimes, oranges and other citrus fruit. This was long before you could walk into a Whole Foods and buy summer fruit in the middle of winter. They hardly ate any fruits and vegetables in the winter, unless they preserved them by canning or pickling. So having an orange at Christmas time was a real treat. Especially because it wasn't guaranteed that the train or the fruit would come every year.
Getting that orange came to symbolize prosperity. Eating an orange in the middle of winter meant you were doing good. So my aunt carries on the tradition by putting an orange in her family's stockings for Christmas. An orange in your stocking to remind you that you're doing good. You're here at the end of another precious year on earth. This wonderful place we all share together.
So, maybe after that, what I'm about to say is going to sound odd. For some reason, it all fit together in my mind. So indulge me for a minute.
I like the story of the orange because it reminds me that life is precious and unpredictable. That is what makes it exciting. We don't always know what will happen, but we appreciate the good little things that do happen from day to day. The future is out there and we don't know what it is yet. Life will take us far and wide and we'll enjoy the beautiful moments because we know they are gifts. They are oranges in our stockings.
The last few days of work have been extraordinarily strange. The next few could be even more strange. Or they could be quiet and uneventful. It's reminded me that sometimes we have to prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and adapt to the rest. That's not the way it will always be, though. Just for now.
Here's an orange for all of us.