Words of Wisdom

All of us have grown up with certain proverbs or words of wisdom that we have learned from our mothers. Some exampes would be:

• Don't swim for at least 30 minutes after you eat (which, truly, is an old wive's tale)


• Always say "please" and "thank you"


• Don't talk to strangers

One particular phrase that I grew up with was this:

NEVER buy strawberries from the store.

It wasn't until going to college that I realized that this is not a possibility for most people in the country. Every spring in California, this becomes a common sight:

THIS is the location to buy strawberries, particularly because they are only yards away from the actual fields where they are being picked.

It also wasn't until college that I realized that strawberries came in anything but these little green baskets and are sold in anything but flats or half-flats. Who knew they were sold in little plastic containers?

Some of my friends even had their own little strawberry plants in their backyards where we would go and sneak strawberries off the vine and eat them.
Father's Day always seemed to come at the tail-end of the possible strawberry season, and strawberry pie became a tradition in our house for the holiday. My grandma's recipe can't be beat.

All of these things combined, including the advice to NEVER buy strawberries from the store, caused me to make a phone call to my mom this morning. As I was putting one of those little plastic containers of strawberries into my cart at the grocery store, I realized that strawberry season in Utah means the stands were probably coming out at the store. My mom gave an understanding chuckle as I pleaded, "Mom, you know how you are coming up in a couple of weeks for graduation? Do you think you could bring up some strawberries?"

In true good-mom fashion, she suggested that she and my dad could swing by a stand as they start their drive up to Utah, and suggested that we make pie that Sunday. Yessssss...life is good.