Asparagus and Blueberries

Asparagus and Blueberries

 

Today at the grocery store

    I paid for items never received.

Somehow, the bagger missed the asparagus

    and God forbid—the blueberries.

 

I discovered this when I got home

    to find them nowhere in my bags;

my cauliflower tortillas? Also missing

    but it was my lost asparagus and blueberries

 

that cracked my composure.

    I returned to the grocery store

where they looked at me as if I were lying.

    Right up until this moment

 

my day had held many enchantments.

    How quickly I forgot them when

I focused on how I’d been wronged.

    Something must be wrong with me

 

that I care more about unexpected losses 

    than I do about unexpected gifts.

 In my angst over lost blueberries

    I forgot the sunrise that glowed like a ruby...

    

the child running merrily through the surf

    how my little dog made me laugh

as he zoomed around my ankles...

    I forgot how blessed I am just to be alive

 

when so many I have loved are not.

    Instead, I mourn over blueberries

and asparagus I hated as a kid—

    Seriously, I have to ask myself?

 

I hope whoever “received” my treasures

    appreciates unexpected gifts

and—when their turn comes to give—

    can do so without resentment.  

 

Isn’t giving and receiving what life is all about?

Both expected and unexpected?

Photo Credit: Alisa Golovinska - Upsplash