April 9, 2020 Neighbors and Rhubarb

It’s snowy and cold here today in Minnesota, but we’ve had some beautiful spring days in the last week, signs of warmer days ahead. A lot more people are out and about. Usually I can take a walk during the day and see nary a soul, but since everyone is home now and getting cabin fever, there are veritable crowds (relatively speaking) out on the streets and sidewalks on those warmer days. You’d think this would be a real treat, but I’m used to having the world all to myself when I’m outside. I’m like Linus of the Charlie Brown comics, who famously said, “I love mankind — it’s people I can’t stand!” I’m mostly just kidding about that – it is nice to see people getting out and families spending time with each other outside.

My husband and I were in our yard last Saturday raking up leaves that we hadn’t taken care of in the fall. A family walked by and the mother called out cheerfully, “Hi Lynn!” We exchanged hellos and she mentioned how fast our children have grown. Gesturing to one of the young men next to her, she said, “This is my youngest – can you believe it?” I made some appropriate responses and we carried on in this way for a few minutes before they went on their way. It was a charming little interlude, marred only by the fact that I had no idea who she was. I still feel bad about that. They were quite a bit farther away than the 6-foot social distance, and I couldn’t really see her face well enough to recognize it, nor did I recognize her voice. I had thought that the conversation would be over after “hello,” or I would have taken the time to walk over and see who it was. I wish I had.

Our good Lord has seen fit to make our rhubarb patch prosper every year. For some of our children this is very bad news; two of them, who shall remain nameless (hint: they’re the exact same age) referred to rhubarb as poison and used to threaten to mow it down when they were still living here. However, it always reminds me of the day we moved into this house 15 years ago. We were trying to stay out of the way of the movers and at the same time trying to get things settled in the house and keep the kids busy. Our brand new next-door neighbors came over bearing a gift of rhubarb bread to welcome us. It was like manna – even the rhubarb haters tried it and didn’t loathe it (I have to admit they didn’t love it either). We knew then that we had landed well in this fair city and have continued to enjoy a wonderful relationship with these neighbors. And of course, I got the recipe for that bread so I can make it myself. Rhubarb needs better PR, so I think that this would be catchy for their ad campaign:

“Rhubarb: bringing neighbors together all over the world. Or at least in northern climates.”

And now, by Popular Demand, I am bringing back my old tagline! I received feedback in the form of a poem from one of my biggest fans, who shall remain nameless (hint: I am married to him), urging me to reconsider. Here’s how it went:

Do leopards grow tired of their spots?
Do kitchens stop being home to pots?
Does a forest tire of its majestic pine?
Then why should a blogger forsake a tag line?
Signed, Popular Demand

I ask you, how could I refuse that impassioned plea?

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.