Fruit and Being Forty-Something

Yesterday we picked these from our tree...

And those were just the ones we could reach...about 6 or 7 gallons of cherries.  Most years we only get a few cherries.  One year we had worms.  Many times the frost kills the blossoms.  And since we inherited this tree when we bought the house, we're happy to have cherries when we get them, but usually only a little disappointed when we don't.

And the tree itself has (at one time or another) has been all of the following:  a climbing tree, a home to nesting birds (and other critters, I'm sure), a quiet spot of shade, the canopy over a special flower garden, a great hiding spot for hide-n-seek, and a source of fun piles of leaves in the fall.  It's also been home to a treehouse, and if Gabby can convince Nate to help her, it will be home to another treehouse before the summer is over.  I guess you could say even when it's not producing fruit, it's still a fruitful tree.  We love our cherry tree.

Yesterday was also Tim's birthday...

Tim is no fuss about his birthdays.  He never makes requests (even when I pester him) and we have to sneak in surprises we think he'd like (like the awesomely detailed car he's now driving).  He even managed a little fuss for the sake of celebration, and surprised the girls by taking them to breakfast.  Later we made him his own personal cherry crisp (with a bigger one for us) and he let us sing to him...see how thrilled he is?  He's really a lot happier without the fuss, but he does it for us.

So where am I going with all of this?  As it turns out, this all ties together...

Harvesting cherries on the same day we were celebrating Tim's birthday had me thinking about the connections between how I feel about him, and how I feel about our tree.

In his lifetime, Tim has been a fun, willing place to climb and wrestle; a gentle home to children who need a place to rest their heads; a quiet source of  protection; the canopy over a special, blooming family; and a one-man source of entertainment and play.  I'm not so sure his leaves fall off in the fall, but he is starting to lose some hair.  Does that count?   

But back to fruit...  Yesterday while I was picking cherries, I thought of the phrase, "...By their fruits ye shall know them."  (Matt 7: 16)  In that phrase, Jesus teaches us that you can tell what kind of person someone is by their "fruits," or by the outcome of their life.  Hopefully Tim lives another forty-something years, and God willing, I plan to be  around to enjoy all those years with him, because as much as I love Tim, I also love the fruit of Tim's life.

When I met Tim, my love and admiration for him grew as I got to know him. He talked about some not-so-fruitful years, but above all else he was kind, funny and thoughtful, and I loved the connection we shared.  I had dated a lot of other guys--enough to know that I needed the real, kind, sincere affection that was in Tim's heart, and Tim's heart alone.  I had faith in that loving, kind, generous heart, and still do.  One sister-in-law posted on facebook for Tim's birthday that he is the "heart of the family" and I couldn't agree more.

Again, what does this have to do with fruit?  Yesterday, from the fruit of the tree in our backyard we got this:

And this:  

We also got 8 mostly full gallon bags of cherries for our freezer.  Yum!  (And yes, we own a cherry pitter.  If you own a cherry tree, you must own a cherry pitter.)

And Tim?

In the last week, he has been working midnight shifts...only one word for that:  brutal!  But going back to shift work means we have him here at home again, and not traveling.  He chose family over comfort.  That's just Tim.  And in the past few weeks, his fun energy has actually lead the grumpy teens amazing kiddos in accomplishing a huge number of home and yard work projects.  He's also started remodeling our bathroom (yeah!) and even involved the boys in teaching them how to drywall and mud.  On the second night, he let Nate drywall alone because Nate wanted to try it on his own.  Tim said later to me that he knew he might have to fix it with mud later, but he wanted Nate to learn.  (Turns out Nate is a natural.)  Then to top it all off, on Friday (Tim's last day off before he started another round of midnight shifts), Nate forgot his sleeping bag for camp.  He was at a scout training prep camp near Evanston, and it was supposed to be cold that night.  Tim knew Nate might try to be the tough guy and not say anything to leaders, so while I was working, he loaded the girls in the car and drove Nate's sleeping bag to him.  They didn't get home until that evening, and I was worried the girls might have been upset about having to spend the day in the car, but Joie and Gabby told me later, "Dad said he likes to spend time with his girls," and they told me how much fun they had on their road trip.  

I could go on and on, but I know if Tim reads this he'd also want me to keep it real.  Life isn't all smiles.  Some days we find worms in the fruit.  Some days frost kills the possibility of fruit.  That's life.  And when it happens, of course we're disappointed.  We'd prefer season after season of beautiful blooms and gallons and gallons of fruit...or at least that's what we think.  It seems like it usually takes some bad seasons to make us reach and grow.  

So here's to fruit...

And seasons of what seems like no fruit...

And to trees that are filled with fruit, even when there isn't fruit in the branches...

And here's to Tim...

And many more harvests...

And here's to forever.