Life....and a Bowl of Cherries

  The saying "Life is like a bowl of cherries" is sort of misleading.  Life is not like a bowl of cherries in the least.  Cherries are good...always. Unless they are rotten...then they are bad...always.  But Life is not that clear cut.  We are setting ourselves up for a major disappointment if we have it in our heads that everything is always hunky-dory.   (Hunky-dory being a phrase that Mom used to say when things were nigh on perfect or use in jest when things were just the opposite.  As a kid, I could never differentiate between the two uses of the same term.)  In real life, there are days when those cherries are good and bad at the same time and it is up to us to choose which fruit to eat.  Pick out the fresh fruit and all is fine...pick the rotten and we wallow in despair.  

  Today, things were more than just a bowl of cherries even though they were involved.  Late afternoon found me exhausted and things going a bit down the wrong path.  It was just one of those days where it seemed that Murphy's Law was the rule for the day.  I could not find things, four of my jars of jelly did not seal and chairs would not fit through the doorway...just to mention a few of the frustrating things occurring during the day.  About three in the afternoon, I just quit.  I was tired after a sleepless night and did not need this aggravation.  I plopped down in my rocking chair to sit and contemplate just why I was having such a day when I heard a familiar call.  Ahh, my sweet sister-in-law was in the yard.  I yelled through the open windows for her to come on inside.  (Just a Southern thing there...."Come on in and sit a spell!  The door is open!)  Down in the Deep South, yoo-hooing is a common greeting and "sittin' a spell" is done with either a cup of coffee or glass of sweet tea depending on the weather.  

  Cynthia made her way inside and handed me a grocery bag.  Inside were the most beautiful cherries!  "These are for you!  You always share everything with anybody that visits, so I brought you something this time."  Aww, my heart forgot all of the fine things that Old Murphy was conjuring all day.  Those cherries brought a smile to my lips and a bit of joy in my heart and even though it was a stifling 90 degrees outside, we had coffee.

  Sometimes life does hand us days that are not to our liking.  It is times like that when we have to make the best of things and not sweat the small stuff.  We pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and carry on.  Then things can change in a heartbeat such as when someone kind offers a bit of pleasant company.  Throw in a bag of fresh cherries and nothing that Old Murphy can throw at you is worth the worry.  Eat the fresh, delicious fruit and do not wallow in rotten thoughts.  Life is good.