Strawberry fields still forever

Bella and I went out to Sauvie Island to the U-Pick Strawberry fields, and we had a glorious time in the sunshine, despite the fact that the strawberries were sparse and quite small. I expected, judging by the roses, that the strawberries would be large and lush. Not. (See Extra.) The field, which somehow failed to flourish this year, had been overpicked on the weekend, so we came away with very few more than the ones we ate as we picked them. 

I remember a similar adventure when Bella was two, and while it was mid-June when we went picking that year, the strawberry plants were about three times the size of the ones we saw today. But we didn't care. It wasn't about the harvest so much as about the delight of being out in the sun and eating fruit we picked ourselves. That miracle.

That blip from when she was two: I just read the comments and was moved to tears. We who blip were struggling then, as we still do, to moderate our time online. To sit less and live more. But we connected with each other deeply. Not all of us are still here, three years later. But those of us who are, have grown deep roots together.