Jump

At my age, it's arguable that I might be approaching the "can't teach an old dog new tricks" phase of life. Say it isn't so! Although work and routine have ruled my life of late, I still secretly yearn for adventure - the kind where a little ounce of fear fuels a wave of adrenaline that makes me wow out loud no matter how hard I try to suppress it.

Can't say this fits the bill, but this past weekend, I was led to rediscover the age old Farmers' Market, where I was re-introduced to local hands-to-the-earth toilers hawking their produce. What fun it was to roam the short street checking out greens I had never cooked, encountering a few I had never seen before. The aroma of strawberries mindlessly guided me to competing stalls where the price of a flat went down with each tick towards the 1 o'clock closing time. I was wisely counseled to go where the Chinese people were, and sure enough, that's where the deals were hiding. Sugar snap peas for 80 cents a pound. Clementines for a buck a pound. Leafy greens for 50 cents a bunch. Regularity, here I come!

My boss once told me a story of a sailing trip he captained. Managing a quality department of all women, it was not a surprise to him that not one of his quality cohorts had any sailing experience, so he was figuratively on his own. But the one thing he couldn't do alone was tow the line in when they docked. He asked a particular person to do the job, which entailed jumping off the boat onto the dock, grabbing the dockline and pulling the boat safely in. She was excited to be commissioned to take on this very important task, eager to be of service instead of simply going along for the ride. As they arrived at the dock, she situated herself to take her leap, but then made the mistake of stealing a quick look down from the edge of the boat and declared, "I'm not doing that!", climbed back into the boat and sat down.

Perhaps a trip to the farmers' market falls into the mundane weekend activity category, but it reminded me that there is still life to be lived and little presents yet to be opened. At this point in my life, I don't want to get back into the boat and just sit and watch.

Excuse me, but I have some beets to roast and some swiss chard to saute.