I'm in the midst of reading The Feast Nearby by Robin Mather. The book as a whole has me thinking a lot about taking better advantage of local food sources. But there was a chapter early in the book that made me think about more than food. The chapter focuses on the all-too-brief season of asparagus and ends with these lines: "Learning to appreciate a fleeting pleasure for itself is part of life, I guess. I am working on cultivating my delight in a season's riches without longing for them when they have passed. Like the seasons of my life, they will march along, whether I am ready for their changing or not." I loved these words--not just for how they apply to tender spring asparagus, plump summer sweet corn, and crunchy fall apples, which I admit I sometimes long for out of season, but even more for how they help give me perspective on the seasons of parenting. It's easy to fall into longing for the days of babies and toddlers or really any of the days when all the kids were still at home. Those were seasons of great bounty, and I loved them. But ready or not, those fleeting days are gone, and I need to recognize that this current season of life has many riches to offer, too. Good book, good advice.
No comments:
Post a Comment