In a world filled with uncertainty, there is a place of comfort--sacred ritual. No, I'm not talking about some Game of Thrones sacrifice. I mean a tradition that fills you with joy. Rituals are a way of stopping our busy lives long enough to celebrate who we are as a species and as a family. One of our oldest rituals is strawberry picking in Baker, Florida.
We have gone on this yearly pilgrimage since I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, who will graduate college in a few weeks. That is twenty years in a row of putting something fun as a family ahead of anything else.
That first trip I balanced the tray of strawberries on my ginormous belly, as the cashier teased my 7 year old that they should have weighed her on the way in, since she was covered with juice from the many strawberries that never found their way into the bucket. With each passing year, the strawberries remained the same, as the pickers changed dramatically. As a family, we can fix stories of picking adventures in amber to be told and re-told.
We use this tradition to show who we are and what really matters to us: being together, doing something outside (which adds an element of adventure, as we were rained on one year, piling into the car muddy and breathless), and competition, as we all vied for the biggest, juiciest specimens. My big girls can't come picking anymore, since they have moved too far away. But I relish the day I bring my grand-babies to the strawberry patch to continue the tale.
What are your family, or personal, rituals? What do they say about you? Don't have any? Start your ritual today by picking things that light you up and reflect who you want to become. Tell me all about it at terrif@findyourpride.org or just bend my ear at the front desk!
XO
Terri
