The peace of pumpkin picking

October 2, 2013

Saturday was one of those almost perfect autumn days in NE PA, so we went pumpkin picking. Our mommy’s helper, Kerri, works at a farmer’s market, and they have tractor-pulled hay rides up into harvested fields that have been stocked up with pumpkins to “pick.” This isn’t so much pumpkin picking as it is picking out your own pumpkin, and truth be told by this city girl, I’m not even sure how pumpkins grow or are harvested. I mean, I know there’s no such thing as a pumpkin tree, right? If I had to guess, I’d say they grow on a vine above ground? Anyone?

Our friend Darci and her adorable little 16-month-old boy joined us, so there were 5 adults to watch 2 toddlers. I liked those odds.

The tractor pulled our group up into the beautiful hills and we climbed out into this enormous, bowl-shaped field of mowed straw, bounded on all sides by a fence. The boys spotted the pumpkins at the bottom of the hill and started to run, amble, stumble, and toddle down the hill.

For about 10 seconds, I thought I’d better chase after the little guy so that he didn’t, he didn’t….ummm, didn’t….what, exactly? Didn’t fall? Onto the soft straw? Well, that wouldn’t be so bad. Well, maybe that he didn’t….get so far out ahead of us that he’d….make it all the way to the fence? He’s fast and he’s got lots of energy, but seriously, he’d pass out from exhaustion before he’d make it that far. About the only “danger” I could come up with was that maybe some giant bird of prey would swoop down and snatch him. It would have to be a pretty damn big bird to scoop him up. More like one of the Wicked Witch’s flying monkeys than a bird, really, and I thought the chances of a flying monkey attack pretty slim.

And then I realized, for the first time in about 28 months, I couldn’t think of a thing to worry about! No strangers to surreptitiously size up for threat level as they passed us on the sidewalk. No roaring buses or speeding cabs whizzing by inches from my precious baby. No hard surfaces or sharp edges for him to fall on or impale himself on.

I ….. could …… relax!

And I did. For about ten minutes. Then I received a text message from our bank saying that there was suspicious activity on our debit card, and our account was being suspended until I called and verified the activity. (Turns out it was a scam text message, but it took a while to clear that up.)

By that time, we had been pulled down out of my peaceful Field of the Pumpkins. We hauled our stash back to the car and loaded the boys back into car seats. Needing both hands to buckle the car seat, I put my iPhone on the roof of the car for just a minute.

Here’s what an iPhone looks like after you merge into three lanes of traffic, it hits the pavement, and gets run over by a bunch of cars before you remember that you left it on the car roof. (Yes, it still works if you don’t mind the bleeding fingertips.)

So, I’ve had to order a new phone, but we have some awesome pumpkins. I want to go back next weekend, bring a blanket and lunch, and take a nap. To keep the worries of the outside world out of my peaceful field, I’ll leave the phone at the bottom of the hill. In the car this time!