We went for a walk to our nearby park late on a Saturday afternoon. This is typical for us when the day has been busy and we don't have time for a longer weekend hike that we enjoy. That afternoon turned out to be unexpectedly bountiful for gathering wild mushrooms. We returned with about ten pounds of excellent finds on a rather short walk. It was as if nature had pulled all the stops and decided to give us gifts we did not expect. In my backward, okra and pumpkin are thriving because of the unseasonable heat - this is a bit unusual too. Preparing the mushrooms for freezing made me think about moments of unexpected grace in life and how we respond to it. Finding wonderful food in the wild, reconnecting with a long lost childhood friend who had been a role model - both of these things happened to me in the same week. D was a very special person - she was one of those kids that exuded promise.
Everyone could tell she would have oversize impact in the world. She was generous, intelligent and friendly with a smile that lit up the room. It was no surprise to anyone who knew her that she chose to go to medical school. Her choice of specialty and the rave reviews from her patients show that the core of her remains as I had know it when she was in her teens - a person who wants to do every good they have the ability to. D was not one to squander opportunity to be useful in the world. In a sense, D is like the bounty of wild mushrooms in the community she serves - they are lucky she lives and works there. After putting away the last of the prepared mushrooms in the freezer, I thought it was a strange parallel to draw between one such as D and food foraged in the wild, but somehow the theme of benevolence and grace seemed to carry through both.
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