Fruits of Stillness and Peace

Pippa: "Yawn ... We dogs aren't into fruits."
(... after a trip to the market when I had first 'gone raw' in May)
*

This morning I felt like eating watermelon so I went to the market to get some. It was early and the vendors were now setting up. The only stall with watermelon laid out was one that I enjoy going to because of its energy. It is run by an Indian woman and her adolescent daughter. I first came across them one morning as I walked by their stall and noticed, propped up against each pile of their fruits (bananas and watermelons), little pieces of cardboard with quotes written on them in red marker.

I had stopped, absorbed, reading the quotes. Each one resonated and spoke so directly to me that I said aloud: "Wow!" Not only because they felt true, but because they were special and humble. Someone had made them with love and a sense of dedication and a desire to share and extend their essence. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the market, that little stall with its simple yet deep quotes (from some major thinkers and spiritual masters), felt like an oasis of stillness and peace.

When the woman heard me say Wow she smiled: "Dat's my daughter," she said proudly, indicating the shy adolescent perched on a table behind her. "She does like to write. She have a book she does write poems in all de time."

I told her daughter that it was so great seeing the quotes next to the bananas and watermelons and that it made me want to buy from them. Great messages for everyone. Giving so much more than just 'fruits'. Giving something to everyone who passed by, whether they stopped to read or not.

This morning when I bought the watermelon, the mother was now setting up the stall and hadn't yet put out the quotes. I wonder what they would have said today ...

The daughter wasn't there. Perhaps she only goes on weekends when she doesn't have school.
Maybe this weekend when I go, I will speak with her and with the old woman.