Communing with Apples

When I was a little kid I used to love apples. On some days when we would come home from school, Mom would have a snack ready for us, which was often apple slices and peanut butter. She would sit down at the table with us while we ate, and ask us about our days. That's the kind of thing makes you feel loved after a hard day on the playground.

I think I had a bit of a hypochondriac thing going on when I was a kid though, because I heard once that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away," and I decided to really take it to heart. I would literally eat one every day, and I remember being disappointed when my front teeth were gone and I could only eat apples with great effort.

As I grew up though, I came to like stuff like honey buns and cheese curls a lot more than crunchy, fresh apples. That seems like a normal progression for a kid... it would be nice if there were some way to keep kids eating the good stuff when they're little, and all the way 'till they're grown up. But instead, we all have to do it our own way for awhile, before we can come back to realizing that the good stuff really is good... and some of us never even get there.

So anyway, now I'm doing this low calorie healthy thing, and it's also prime apple season. I'm back to the apple a day routine, just like when I was 8. This time though, I'm eating an apple to help get me through the afternoon doldrums, and I need it to last. I need to really enjoy it. Well, I've found that with apples, that's not difficult.

Eating my afternoon apple has turned into a ritual for me. I don't just consume the apple: I commune with it. I chew each bite slowly and carefully, and not only have I found that different sections of an apple have different flavors, but that the flavors in different sections are different depending on what type of apple you're eating. I've learned that near the bottom is some of the best apple there is, and I've also learned to get every edible bite out of it before throwing out the core for the ants and worms.

I've even started thinking about the spiritual relevance of the apple... Eve and all that. Apples are a symbolic reminder to us. They remind us of what we've given up to be here in this life on Earth, and what we're allowed to enjoy because of our choice. So, I enjoy the apple, and I try to enjoy everything about this life that we have chosen for ourselves. I don't want to squander my time here, because this is it; this is my time away from God, out here on my own in the relative darkness. But with things like apples, magnificent gray clouds, and heartfelt hugs, we are never alone or forgotten.