Of life and death, birthdays and fruit: December 4 2024

Is it my imagination or do more of our elders pass on to the next life during the holidays?

It’s a beautiful time of year, marked by holidays, festivities, and family togetherness. Emotions can run high and low. And when loss occurs in our societal circles, the cycle of life becomes apparent and real, reminding us that we are all here for a time, and that we must make it meaningful.

I have not personally lost a loved one this year (and I’d very much like to keep it that way, thank you very much). But I know two families who have lost a head of the family (one matriarch, one patriarch).

Without going into excessive detail, because this is an Actifit post after all, I will just say that I feel blessed to have known these people, and furthermore I feel blessed to be alive, and to be surrounded by people I love.

About the fruit, well I attended one of the memorial services today, and in support of my friend who lost her mother, I helped with the meal after the service. That and other miscellaneous activities amounted to a decent number of steps!

My job for the memorial service luncheon was to make four dozen fruit kabobs.

If you have never made 48 skewers of fruit, I will tell you it is an experience. First I had to buy an enormous supply of strawberries, melons, pineapple and grapes. Then I had to wash everything, remove the strawberry caps, slice the melon and pineapple, and take the grapes off the stems.

Then I had to skewer them.

I considered just putting the fruit on the skewers willy nilly. Instead I quickly looked up a recipe that showed a nice orderly and very attractive and festive way to arrange the fruit so it looked a bit like a rainbow, and that seemed meaningful, given the occasion.

My fruit presentation was quite a hit at the reception.

Interestingly, it was my sister’s birthday today as well. As I packed up the fruit, the condolence card for the bereaved family and a birthday card and present for my sister, it made me remember again that life is precious, and that every day is a gift.

Thank you for visiting.

Photo credits: All of the photos in this post were taken by me and belong to me, unless otherwise noted.

My bio: I am a fiction writer and photographer based in Minnesota. I have had a lifelong love of fiction writing. I earned my MFA in writing from the University of New Hampshire. My short stories have appeared in a range of literary journals and anthologies, and my first short story collection, Somewhere in Minnesota is available on Amazon US as well as international Amazon sites., Barnes & Noble or from the publisher.

Want to know what I'm publishing and where? Visit my website, www.jaynalocke.com, or follow me on X, aka Twitter, at www.twitter.com/@jaynatweets or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/authorjaynalocke.

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This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io

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