Knock, Knock

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While eating my healthy snacks at Teresa’s last Saturday, I visited with a friend from my own homeschooling days, whom I don’t get to see very often. I’ll call her Linda. Linda has completed her homeschooling journey with her own children, both of whom are grown and living and working nearby, but in another town. Linda and her husband have helped hundreds of homeschooling families. She knows homeschooling forward and backward, but she is relatively new to some of the healthy living concepts shared that night.

You know how conversations go. Somehow, in the context of the evening, ours wound around to organic bananas. I like to eat, but have never been a foodie. Even so, I do, for some strange reason, remember the first time I tasted an organic banana. In our discussion about organic food, I told her about it.

Oh, this is weird. Now I’m remembering other banana stories! I started writing this blog to tell you about my conversation with Linda, but now I’m remembering other banana stories.

When I went to my parents’ house after Daddy died, there on the counter, like almost every time I had been to my parents’ house in the last thirty years, were bananas Daddy had brought home. Daddy was the first healthy food enthusiast I ever knew, but the only healthy foods I remember him eating were onion, garlic, kraut juice (I kid you not), and bananas. My first special banana was Daddy’s banana that I ate after he died.

My second special banana was my first organic one mentioned above, eaten while Ray and I were away celebrating our 30th anniversary.

I ate my third special banana in Belize. Mary Evelyn has a special place in her heart for the people of Belize. She has been on several mission trips there. A few years before she married, she wanted to take one of her plays to Belize for children there to perform. Ray agreed for me to go along as her companion and assistant director. We rented an apartment, just the two of us, and stayed just shy of a month, while teaching a musical program to children at a school where Mary Evelyn had worked on her other trips. Among the many fresh fruits we enjoyed were apple bananas. They look like miniature bananas and their texture is the same, but, if you can imagine this, they taste like apples! Very yummy!

Okay, all that said, I’ll get back to my original topic. Linda and I discussed the pros and cons of eating organic bananas. She made me think about the negative impact of pesticide sprays in the countries where bananas are grown. Now, there is something to think about. I already buy organic bananas because at our Kroger they are only 10 cents more a pound than conventional bananas, but our daughter Bethany told me that organic bananas were over a dollar more per pound at her Aldi recently. Yikes!

Oh, the decisions you mamas have to make every day–even what kind of bananas to buy. I remember a comment an elderly gentleman made to me one time about caring for his wife with dementia. He was not one to complain about it, but one day he said with a sigh, “I have to make all the decisions.” I bet you feel that way, too, sometimes.

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Banana.

Banana who?

Knock, Knock.

Who’s there?

Banana.

Banana who?

Knock, Knock.

Who’s there?

Orange.

Orange who?

Orange you glad I didn’t say banana again?

Who is the man who fears the Lord?
He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
Psalm 25:12

 

 

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