Life really can be a bowl of cherries...

The economy sucks for everyone. It doesn't matter who you are, or how much money you have, we are all affected by this horrific turn of events. Those of us unemployed, or under-employed, must find legitimate ways to survive until the world as we know it improves. Some sources of survival are embarrassing, such as having to visit food banks, or use food stamps, or borrow money from family and/or friends, never knowing just how long it will be before you can pay them back. Some of us are working jobs that we never thought we would be doing, but hey, it's a paycheck, however small.

So here I was, returning from my part-time job, one I campaigned for and got, a physically-demanding job that while it brings me satisfaction to do it, and do it well, it also translates into hours of pain from aggravating my car accident injuries. Dare I say it - we need the money. I immediately go into feel-better mode: a glass of ice water with lemon, a cool shower and a snack. Just what kind of snack, you might ask? I root around in my freezer and find - wait for it - frozen Rainier cherries purchased last season and just waiting for me to remember them.

So into a shallow cereal bowl they go, waiting for me to organize my beverage, my book, aspirins, and to clothe myself in pajamas (at 3 o'clock in the afternoon),TV on and tuned in to a re-run of an episode of "Bones" - more for white noise than for any other reason - and into bed the cherries and I go to lounge. They are cold, and slightly sweet, and collecting the stems and stones in my bowl, alongside the whole fruit remaining, reminds me of how lucky one can be sometimes, in the worst of times.

A bowl of cherries = hope.