How Sweet It Is!

We bought this large watermelon at the farm where we buy apples and Sam wanted to cut it up when we got home.

I had mixed feelings about that. It was a Monday. Aren't big watermelons supposed to be for the weekend when extra folks are coming over? It seemed like a big splurge on a regular day for just us.

 I had to admit it looked pretty tasty- probably just picked that morning at the little market it was grown at.

While thoroughly enjoying three juicy pieces of fresh sweet watermelon, I pondered on the appropriateness of eating delicious food "treats" on an ordinary day. It surprised me how much this was working on my mind. I almost felt guilty! Then I thought about a story that Grandma Dolly once told me. When she was a child in the 1920's, her family received a box of oranges before the holidays. Her parents thought that it would be best to save them for Christmas Day. Yep, you guessed it- when Christmas arrived, they had all gone bad and were not fit to eat. A disappointing waste.

Thomas  Bakery once had on their trucks a well- toasted, buttered English Muffin with the caption
 "Make every day Extraordinary". That is not hard to do with such an abundance of food available to us. We sometimes eat ice cream during the weekdays in the evenings but a few years back, only had ice cream on a Friday or Saturday night. There is a balance needed here that each family figures out for themselves. If we eat goodies all the time, it lessens the joy of having a special occasion with unique treats that set that day apart.
I kid you not that this watermelon brought up this whole train of thought about food, deliciousness and discipline.

What I finally came to was an intriguing  philosophy that I once heard from  a speaker at a homeschool conference.
 Mr. James Stenson has written a number of books about bringing up children to have great character. His theory is:
"Always remain in a State of Grace, and have as much fun as you possibly can".
This idea is so counter-intuitive, that it has really stuck in my head.
I decided that eating fresh picked watermelon on a Monday afternoon because you can and you want to falls under this category!