May Your Life Be Like A Fresh Fruit Salad
Someone, somewhere right now, is prying open a watery can of fruit cocktail and about to take a bite. In between the toddler-sized chunks of pear cores, triangular bits of peaches, and olive colored, halved grapes, that sad someone is surveying the can for a single crushed piece of scarlet, red cherry. A little infusion of carmine turned the cherry redder- than-red to a color found nowhere in nature. Yet, to that someone, the brilliant red cherry is a delightful distraction from an uninspired life. It’s an Andy Warhol moment in an otherwise bland bowl of faded fruit. There’s no chemical that could legally be added to make the peaches bright as oranges or the pineapple burst like gold. In a life that’s gray, the red cherry remains the pursuit. The cherry has become the silver lining over the jagged edges of an aluminum can. The cherry takes up far more life than it should.
The cherry’s value lies solely in the fact that it’s a tiny speck of something different in a colorless bowl of the mundane. We have our favorite colors and flavors, but this arrangement was hand picked and served to us by someone we don’t even know, a long time ago. The picker selected his own combination of fruits according to his taste. We might not like what he’s served, but we partake of it again and again.
The cherry is how we come to live a life that is focused on the inconsequential because in an otherwise pre-packaged life, we welcome any signs of color. We focus on achievements that we don’t even care about - titles, degrees, promotions, awards, and status, instead of what’s truly important to achieve our defined goals, life balance, and well-being. We allow others to tell us who we are and what we should be instead of exercising dominion over ourselves and confidence in our direction. Instead of surveying the cornucopia to select ingredients to our liking, we consume what’s packaged, settling for less than what we truly want, and suffering through the absence of relationships and meaningful work that we honestly need.
Fresh fruit salad served at Zapata Ranch in Mosca, Colorado
If you ever have a chance to stay at Zapata Ranch in Mosca, Colorado, the amazing kitchen staff just might bless your taste buds with a fresh fruit salad that bursts with energy, color, and flavor like the good life itself.
The good life is like a fresh fruit salad. No one piece has to stand out because the entire bowl is customized just for you. You know what you like, you do the shopping, and you make the selection. The good life is one where you spend it as you choose because you know yourself and lean into what interests you and energizes you. In the good life, you don’t have to chase success because success is to live the life that pleases you and to begin to change the things that don’t.
Ingredients for the Best Fruit Salad I’ve Ever Had In My Entire Life
In its simplicity, this fruit salad secured the title of The Best Fruit Salad I’ve Ever Had In My Entire Life. Thinking back to sitting on that back porch on the Zapata, savoring those freshly chopped, adult sized pieces of bright orange cantaloupe, golden yellow peaches, sugar baby watermelon, and tangy red plums, still makes my mouth water. It’s in moments like these that I continuously renew my pledge to never eat from a can of fruit again.
Visit a local farmer’s market, farm stand, or quality grocer, and purchase:
Two fresh, ripe peaches
A quarter of a fresh, ripe cantaloupe
Two juicy, red plums
About two cups of fresh cut watermelon
Chop these into pieces about 1-inch thick and toss. Find some cute little edible flower to toss on top.