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Enjoying a strawberry slushie after a grueling 30 minutes of strawberry picking! |
As we picked, I couldn't help noticing all the young mothers with their young children toddling about and enjoying the sunshine. My sons, 13 and 10, tall and strong, didn't have to be told not to squish the plants. They didn't have to be encouraged to put a few more strawberries in their buckets. Those days have passed. The boys and I chatted and worked as a cheerful team.
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And yet . . . I miss my own grandmother and the memories of my children as toddlers. Those memories are sweeter than these strawberries: my grandmother serving us cold strawberry jam on warm toast in the winter; my own children eating strawberries straight from the plant while sitting, tired and hot, in the strawberry field.