Life's Just a Bowl of Cherries

We all know the saying, “Life is just a bowl of cherries.” People use that saying when they’re happy, when things in life are going their way. And why not? A bowl of cherries just seems like a bowl of happiness.

Cherries are a sweet treat, nurtured to maturity by warm summer sunshine. Plump red cherries are practically synonymous with summertime. They make us think of backyard barbeques and the 4th of July and running around barefoot on a cool green lawn. We associate a bowl of cherries with things that make us smile.

But in reality, life is not always “a bowl of cherries.” Life is not always full of happiness. The truth about life is that, although there will be thousands of good days (we hope), there will be some number of bad days and we never know when we’re going to have them. So if we go along believing the whole “life is a bowl of cherries” mantra, we’re setting ourselves up to be disappointed by real life.

I’ve spent some time thinking about this because I’ve had some bad days of my own recently. Last month, a good friend died suddenly and tragically, leaving behind her 9-year-old daughter with a single father in his sixties and no other family. A couple of weeks later, my mother suffered an adverse reaction to some medication and nearly died. Last week, my husband’s brother died of complications following surgery. Now, my cousin’s wife, the mother of their two young children, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Enough already! I’ve had my fill of sadness and tragedy and grief. And on top of that, I am angry about the injustice of it all. If life were really a bowl of cherries, I’d throw mine out and wait for the next batch.

I am coming to terms with my recent spate of bad news. I am trying to offer love and support to those who need it. I am beginning to put things into perspective.

I am realizing that perhaps life is more like a real bowl of cherries than we admit: there are sour cherries lurking amidst the sweet ones and we have to learn to live with the bad ones when we pick them. There is no “cherry-picking” in real life. You can’t choose just the good days. We can’t stop bad days from happening by being “good” or responsible or doing all the right things. I am realizing that we have to savor each of the good days because they give us the strength to handle the bad days.

I am accepting that life is just a bowl of cherries after all, it’s just that the cherries are not always sweet.

Note to my readers: Thanks for your patience while I’ve been away from my blog and dealing with life’s struggles. Please continue to check back - I'll be posting again on a more regular schedule.