“I feel like the Griswolds,” I said.
I watched as a masked young man closed the chain link gate and locked it.
We’d only just begun pulling trees up from their 2x4 makeshift racks, trying to find the best of the balsams.
Too short!
There’s a big hole right there….
Uhhh…really skinny…
It’s needles are already littering the ground.
They’re all smooshed—how can we even tell what’s good?
“Guys—they must close at 7:00—we just got locked in,” I said.
At the same instant, the gatekeeper noticed there were still customers in his corral.
He unlocked and re-opened the gate as we made a split-second best-of-show choice.
We walked toward the checkout window that faced, but was closed to, the great outdoors. Counting cash, the checker was clearly closing out her drawer.
“You can pay at register 1,” said the manager who was now shepherding the gatekeeper and about six additional employees waiting to escape the store.
Thing 1 and Thing 2 headed off to strap selected Christmas cheer to Tahoe’s top while I went off to meet forced smile at register 1.
bottom sawed
stand attached
balsam stands in traditional spot
drinking water
unfurling branches
it’s perfect
I can’t remember the last time we didn’t cut our own tree.
I’m not sure what all happened this year, but time and availability got away from us.
That’s fine…I like the image of Boennings as Griswolds.
;)
Is the biggest challenge to true happiness our expectation of what’s supposed to happen?
Beautiful neighborhood!
Expectations. Living in the present moment. J Krishnamurti often notes that “seeing,” devoid of past experience and expectations and personal beliefs, is the only way to see the pure truth of events in the present.
It seems in this BFN event that you saw with both clear eyes and an open mind/heart. Seeing this year’s tree quest as both a departure from the past, yet an enjoyable one, modeled the JK approach. Writing another story to suit?
Christmas Eve with my first girlfriend was fresh and new as there was no past from which to expect or judge. Guess what?! The memory is etched in my life (brain+heart+energy) as clearly as something that just happened. Perhaps one result of experiencing life without expectations.
Thanks for the rich illustration of what is possible.