Yesterday was 2010’s opening day for my favorite farmer’s market. We live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which –honestly– has got to be one of the most beautiful parts of the country. Obviously I am biased, but I thought that long before we ever lived here too. We are within 90 minutes of both NYC and Philadelphia, and yet within 20 minutes of our house we have 6 fully operational farm stands and farmer’s markets (and that doesn’t even include the road-side stands that many folks set up seasonally in their front yards). My favorite farmer’s market is on Thursdays, 3-7pm, from May through October. It is about 10 minutes up the road from us, right on my drive home from work. Yesterday I picked up a bunch of great stuff — as I’ll do every Thursday from now until October — but the real star of the show was the strawberries. Strawberry season has just burst here, and for the next couple of weeks we’ll be eating them in mad quantities by the quart-full. Yesterday I bought two quarts of these annual treats. The farmer I bought them from told me that they had just been picked from his field that morning. One of the quarts was immediately devoured by K, O, and M within five minutes of my arrival at home. I could barely get them rinsed off fast enough! The other quart was hidden in the fridge to save for the next day. There is just nothing like a fresh field-grown strawberry. Nothing like it. I have always loved them, my whole life long. But now– for the past two years– these ruby-red drippy-delicate things have had an even more special place in my heart. For me now (and really, for our whole family now), these strawberries represent Meera’s birthday. Strawberry season is at its highest height right around May 28th (click). Many a sweet strawberry will be eaten here during Meera’s birthday week– which officially started today and will run through next Friday. Every quart I buy, and every strawberry I eat, I’ll think of my girl. I remember us eating them while I was 9+ months pregnant, waiting for her arrival. I remember a bottomless quart of them sitting 24×7 on the small table in our hospital room for the few days after Meera was born. I remember Meera eating them in massive quantities in the days leading up to and just after her first birthday. All year round strawberries are one of Meera’s favorite foods, and somehow that seems so poetic. Strawberry season and Meera’s birthday. Two such special things. That will now forever and always be intertwined in my mind. The details of deeply living never cease to amaze.