May 31, 2022 Looking ahead while looking back, the Sweet and the Sour I am pitting and freezing a few pounds of cherries today, finding a peaceful rhythm as I halve them with a little paring knife and slide out the pits with my thumb. It is a task filled with memories for me. The memory of blue skies and cheery cherry summers. The memory of my mother showing me how to use the knife. The memories of baking clafoutis with my sister. I pop a cherry half into my mouth. “Do not muzzle the ox,” my grandma would quote, “while he’s treading out the grain.” This principle I learned from her as a child (given three times in the Bible) reminds me I am worthy of my wages. Today, the wages include a cherry or two. Instantly, the taste transports me back to my grandfather’s orchard and stuffed plastic bags of fruit sitting on the kitchen table. I remember eating Rainiers the most, not the deep red cherries pictured in storybooks. Rainiers are a hybrid from the 1950s, a surprising blend of two re...