I had already checked to see which pavilions were in my capacity range and were still open so we had a general idea of where were going. Jeremy knows the park pretty well. We found the pavilions we wanted and then decided to hike some of the nearby trails, one of which was the Soapstone trail.
We hike to the top of the hill and the trail came to a ‘T’ which surprised Jeremy because he thought he knew this area pretty well and he didn’t recognize the right branch. So that is the branch we took, though Jeremy was convinced it would dead end. Sure enough, the trail ended at a small clearing. I walked over to the far end of the clearing and hopped up on a fallen tree. I took a second just gazing into the trees, happy to be with my husband and in the quiet of the park. Husband? I realize Jeremy hadn’t followed me so I turned around and saw him wading though some bushes near the trail head, hunched over as if looking for something. ‘Jeremy?’ He stood up and looked at me with that goofy grin on his face, ‘I found raspberries!’ And he popped something into his mouth.
I look closer at the bushes around me and there were indeed lots of little red berries. I must admit that I was skeptical at first. Wild berries? Shouldn’t we wash them? What about possible pesticides? Are we stealing by eating these?
Jeremy’s enthusiasm and insistence that it was okay wore off on me and I began picking berries too! They were good! Sweet, and tart. Dark red, rather small, and hidden amongst thorns, but oooo so delicious. (I think wild animals probably got to all the easy to reach ones.)
We slowly headed back to the car, picking berries as we went along.
Later, Jeremy’s mom, Glenda mentioned that it was the wrong time of the season for raspberries and we were probably eating wineberries. After looking at Wikipedia, I am not sure.
This may seem like an insignificant story with no point. Maybe it is, but this is me and Jeremy. This is my life. Sometimes, God sends blessings in the form of berries.
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