Orange Trees

It has recently occurred to me how different my kid’s lives are than mine was as a kid. And this mainly has to do with living in differing climes. So as we’re driving through the central valley on our way to St. George for big Canyon’s wedding—I keep pestering the kids every time we drive past orange orchards.
Me: “Lily, Canyon…look at all the orange trees.”
Them: “yeah, great mom.”
Me (ten minutes later): “Lily, Canyon…more orange trees.”
Dustin: “You keep talking about the orange trees.”
The kids: “We have one in our back yard, big deal mom.”

Oh yeah. We have an orange tree in our back yard. How do I explain to them that the first orange tree I ever saw was in Mesa, Arizona when I was about thirteen years old. It was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen. Oranges, just growing on trees: everywhere. I guess I felt a little like Laura Ingalls when she tastes her first orange, I think that she was about fifteen. Anyway, I just sort of came to this realization that my kids aren’t interested in orange trees, they have one in their back yard. It reminds me of when Dustin and I first moved out here. We had several occasions at the beach (obviously) and it truly was amazing to me that people could go to the beach and not swim. I mean, growing up, when ever we made it to the ocean—maybe once a year on the Oregon coast, brrr—we thought it was the greatest and we swam in it for hours: oblivious to currents, creatures, and cold. Every time we went to the beach the first few years that we were married, Dustin would just stand on the beach and watch me swim. I’m sorry to say, that, lately…I’ve been content to just stand on the beach myself. Anyway, things are just different. My kids, however, are EXTREMELY excited to see snow in ANY form—and that could be the water in the tractor bucket that froze over night, or the snow brushing the top of Mt. Diablo, or frost on the roof. Looking back, snow was exciting for us for about a day…and then we probably treated it like an orange tree: “Snow, oh yeah, we have that in our back yard.”