Empty Bucket, Full Heart

I went out to the tundra today to fill my bucket with blueberries. Normally the wild blueberries journey from the bush, into my bucket, and then into my freezer to be enjoyed in the winter. I’m not the master berry picker that my friends are, but I can usually put a few away each summer.

Today though, I returned from my outdoor escapade with not a single blueberry in the bucket.

Will and I began by walking down the tundra trail to the blueberry patch. Every few feet the uneven ground would trip Will up and he would stumble, giggling and saying uh oh. Every so often he would also notice the mountains in the distance, stop, point enthusiastically at them and say, “moun.”

We did eventually get to a nice patch of berries. I sat down and started to plop berries into my bucket. Will came right over and ate the berries out of my bucket. “No way, I’m not doing all this work so you can just scoop them out,” I told him, “Pick your own berries.” After a short demonstration, Will quickly learned how to pick and eat his own blueberries. I then went back to picking mine, while he munched on his. Well, for a few minutes I did. Will quickly learned that mama’s berry bucket was the faster way, so if my bucket was anywhere nearby he absconded with it and dumped the contents in his mouth. Becoming a tad bit annoyed, I tried moving a few feet away, but that didn’t work either. I thought about my options and realized that I had no real need to pick aggressively. I threw the bucket towards the trail and settled into the tundra, soaking up the sun. With no bucket, the thievery stopped and Will focused on picking and eating his own berries. He stopped every few minutes to look at the planes overhead, but otherwise spent a while just munching away. Eventually, tummies full, we headed back to the car.

I left with an empty bucket, but with a full heart. Sitting and soaking up the sun while Will learned something new was a joyous way to spend a morning.