Raspberries and babies have a lot in common (07/10/06)

I’ve been thinking about raspberries lately; raspberries and babies actually. Our raspberries are ripe and I’ve been taking the long way home (through the backyard) so I can feast on the half dozen or so that blacken each day. My husband thinks they’re sour so I get to have them all to myself. Besides, there aren’t that many of them.

As I savor each juicy treat I regret that my granddaughter will be too small to eat them when she gets here in a couple of weeks. My teenage step-grandson loves fresh raspberries but he isn’t coming so he is out of luck. The raspberries are almost finished fruiting for the year and will probably be gone before they arrive.

Thankfully, black raspberries are too fragile to have all the flavor bred out of them just so they will ship well. I would hate to see them go the way of tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables that are wonderful straight from the garden but downright nasty when they are produced for mass marketing.

I remember many sultry summer afternoons spent along the fence rows where the raspberries grew wild on our family farm. We would pick and eat and watch whatever wildlife that ambled by. Once we saw a fox that silently disappeared into the brambles. We picked so many berries that there were always more than enough for pies, jellies and jams. My grandmother wasn’t the world’s best cook but she made great pies-even if I did balk at eating the crusts.

The only bad thing about the jellies and jams was that they were stored in the cellar on rickety spiderweb-covered shelves. It was always my job to brave the cellar monster and bring up whatever home-canned product was needed. I never saw the cellar monster but I was always convinced that he would reach up through the open-backed stairs and grab me. It never happened but to this day I don’t like open-backed stairs. Spiders and rickety shelves don’t bother me in the least.

So what does all this have to do with babies? Think about it, they both are fragile and precious. Babies don’t stay babies very long and raspberries don’t stay at their juicy peak for more than a few hours. If we are to enjoy them we have to protect them. Raspberries need to be fed and need room to grow. So do babies. Raspberries can hurt you if you grab their canes roughly. Babies have been known to bite the hand that feeds them-and anything else their sharp baby teeth can get hold of.

If we are to enjoy babies and raspberries we should be committed to taking care of them. If we let the raspberries run wild the only harm is that we may inadvertently step on a cane while we are barefoot and the stickers will hurt.

Babies require much more care. We have an obligation to take care of them for the rest of their lives. True, they will grow up and leave us but if we are lucky they will call home once in awhile. We should never, ever put them in harm’s way. For instance, someone I know recently took off for Arkansas to meet a guy she met on the internet. As if this wasn’t dangerous enough she took her young daughter with her. My first reaction upon hearing this news was disbelief. Nobody in their right mind would drive several states away to meet someone they met online. And they certainly wouldn’t take a chance on harm coming to their child.

This guy might be the nicest man in the universe - then again, he might not. He could be an ax murderer or a child molester. He could be anything. If someone wants to put themselves in jeopardy that is simple foolishness. But to take a chance on something happening to your child?! I cannot fathom how anyone could do such a thing.

I am so very grateful that my daughter would never do something so idiotic. She waited too long and went through too much to get her baby. She would never do anything to jeopardize her child in any way. I am wondering if I should call child welfare or someone if the mother and daughter happen to make it back safely from Arkansas.

This is what I think about while I am searching out the last of the black raspberries. I’m thinking about how fragile babies are and how grateful I am that our baby has a great mother.[[In-content Ad]]