Blackberry People

^{Photo by Pablo Merchán Montes on Unsplash}

Like avocados and halibut, blackberries were one of those delicious foods I discovered as an adult, instantly fell in love with and have been gobbling up ever since. 

Short of having an avocado grove and a private island surrounded by schools of halibut, I feel very fortunate to have blackberry bushes in my backyard. They sun-ripen sporadically between July and August, so I have snacks when I’m doing summer yard work. They are fun-shaped and yummy.  They make me happy.

Plenty of pleasant memories come to mind around blackberries, but my favorite is the August my brother and sis-in-law were visiting. I remember us plucking a small bucket of them. I gave them a good rinse and Sis made a gluten-free blackberry cobbler that was so remarkable we greedily ate it fresh from the oven standing in my kitchen.

Like blackberries, there are people I didn’t come to appreciate until later in life too, and I can’t seem to get enough of them either. 

Maybe I had to wait for a part of me to ripen, but now I really value:

1. People with sunshine in their spirits, who quietly light a room.
2. People who sweeten with time, while retaining complex, interesting notes.
3. People I can talk to about anything without them blinking an eye.
4. People who say a lot with few words.
5. People who color outside the lines.
6. People who are willing to gracefully let difficulties go and not randomly time-travel back to them.
7. Friends who accept me As-Is. For real.
8. People who feel like poetry.
9. Dreamers who are also adept at key practical things like furniture assembly and landscaping.
10. A friend whose primary purpose in my life is to make me laugh or lighten up.
11. People who can McGyver delicious blackberry cobbler in my gluten-free, sugar-free kitchen.

What/who did you come to appreciate later in life?