Strawberry Salsa Saves the Day!

Don’t you just love it when things turn out the way you want them to…or even better than your original expectations?!

Well, the day I created this salsa recipe I was experiencing exactly the opposite. From the time I woke up until my head hit the pillow hard, the girls and I struggled to make it unscathed through the moments.

I know, I know…I’m the adult….set the tone, be the example. Well, my parenting strategy started off all wrong.

The trigger: My alarm never went off (yeah, operator error at play…). So my sweet six year old sauntered into my room shortly after sunup when I realized my morning ‘me’ time was lost. I’m ashamed to admit missing my precious ‘me’ time has potential to set a sad, ugly scene for the duration of the day. While the house still sleeps I possess this majestic opportunity unknown to any other time of day to sit, ponder, pray and workout. It truly puts me mentally, physically and spiritually in place to be the kind of mom I want to be (well, mostly...)

Perhaps I’ve become a bit too dependent on this morning ritual….

Adding insult to injury, that certain sweet six year old waking me up did so with quite a stubborn start. Unbeknownst to me, sibling rivalry had already begun behind closed doors!

So, the spiral continued…the downward kind. The three of us bumped heads, interacted over anxious glances and irritated each other with snide remarks most of the morning. Oh sure, I normally stop us to pray….uh, well, another oversight that day… 

Everything was just 'off'. You’ve experienced it too, right? A relentless struggle against the little people who possess far too much power to break the adult in charge!?

I confess, it wasn't just them breaking me but I was at blame for some bickering and bumping with my own adult-version of immaturity….

I’ll spare you the details, except that the little bit of sunshine in the otherwise dreary day came in the form of sweet, red, juicy strawberries. We all adore ripe berries beyond almost any other fresh fruit treat! When I opened up the organic pints I’d purchased the day before we were delighted to discover their healing power over our moods! We gobbled up, unadulterated, almost an entire pound after lunch.

I quickly realized creating a sweet strawberry concoction just might be our ticket to a better day…or at least temporary improved interactions. So I washed up some more strawberries, sat the sisters down and let them have their first ‘go’ at chopping berries (supervised, obviously). The novelty of the task distracted and excited the girls while I welcomed the sweet peace!

Now what to make???….That was easy: Something simple, a bit sweet and slightly spicy to match the family mood. This strawberry salsa offered success on the first try! We all LOVED it….and once we enjoyed it atop our organic blue chips (and simply off the spoon), we resumed with our doom and gloom day. 

But, sometimes it’s just that one moment of sweet in the midst of a no-good-terrible day that saves a family’s sanity and gives this mama the endurance she needs to arrive on the other side: bedtime!

Thank you, God, for giving us second chances…and for strawberry salsa that saved the day!