Once you reach “senior” status, the mail starts: “Urgent” medical info, “Urgent” – Do you need an assisted living facility? , “Urgent” – do you have money saved for retirement?, etc, etc. The language on the envelopes always push the need to “open and reply immediately”, (and you can just hear the unwritten–“Or, you’ll be sorry”!). I look thru them to make sure that I won’t be and then throw them away.
So, I’ll take my tomato seed letter as a sign to step up to better diet habits.
However, one notice did catch my eye. It said “free tomato seeds enclosed”, how nice. I opened that one, even though I don’t garden, I live in an apartment, but I appreciated the gesture. Not wanting to waste anything, I left the free seeds in the lobby for a neighbor who might be more inclined to have an urban vegetable plot on their balcony (read fire escape).
But then I got to thinking. Fresh tomatoes sound really delicious. My father would grow them in the back yard and they were usually sweeter than those found in the super market. He was proud of them. Nice memories.
I do frozen rather than fresh mostly, it’s often cheaper and it won’t spoil. No complaints, but, vegetables and fruits that are eaten close to where they’re grown just seem to have something more – probably more nutrients, taste and scent. I love to smell fruit at the local market
So, I’ll take my tomato seed letter as a sign to step up to better diet habits. I gifted the free tomato seeds, dumped the mail, but reminded myself that I deserve to smell and then eat fresh veggies and fruits whenever. They’re good for me, health wise and soul wise. (I will most likely feel better and less guilty after consuming a bacon sandwich.)
BTW: the letter was an offer to subscribe to a lifestyle magazine targeting seniors in Northern California.