Apple Trees and Pickup Trucks

What might an apple tree and a pickup truck have in common?? Granted, not a typical association unless you’re visiting an orchard or farmer’s market.? Regardless, this was a connection I made as a 3rd grader.??

My parents bought my childhood home from a botanist at a nearby research center.? He populated the rather large yard with a virtual kingdom of plant life, a spread not limited to but including six apple trees.? My dad, bless him, would go out at the appointed time and spray the apple trees to ensure a bountiful harvest come summer.??

With no school in session and trees heavy with apples, I vividly remember ruminating on what I could do with all of the apples.? This was, of course, after my sisters and I ate ourselves sick with them.? For whatever reason, the abundance of apples and the old, dented red truck my dad drove beckoned to my enterprising mind–sell the excess apples to all passersby and neighbors alike.

So, with an apple in hand and a beater truck as my shop, I became the neighborhood’s sole apple marketer, effectively selling apples to children (with a mark-up, mind you) and any neighbors willing to placate the aspirations of a budding salesperson. As part of my business model, I distinctly recall naming my younger sister as my associate: the collector of apples as well as the display artist.? You see, we both knew a properly marketed apple–shiny and sweet–on a hot summer afternoon would be an irresistible treat for any and all.

Summer break continued and the six apple trees in my yard provided a little pocket change but more so lots of imaginative play.? Oh my, the places we “went” to sell our product, places full of interesting people and sought after prosperity.

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Recalling those playful moments causes sweet memories to bubble up within.? My sister and I were entertained by such simple things, enjoying each other’s company as we grew our customer base.? That time hocking apples also speaks to an early interest in sales and business. I mean, much like any dedicated and driven nine-year old, I was in it to win it.??

Considering that, is it possible for me to not only resurrect that childhood fervor but to reclaim the energy as I start an adventure in a new field?? My fixed self, my “been through a lot” adult self issues a resounding reprove to such thinking.? After all, life experience, the risk of failure or embarrassment, becomes more prominent with each year. Yet, harkening back to climbing in the bed of that old truck, arms filled with apples, mouth full of directions for my young associate, and a marketing strategy flooding my thoughts, I now choose to say yes.? Yes to possibility, yes to you’re only as old as you think you are, yes to the thrill of trying something new.

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Here’s a question: what would it be for all of us to jump back in our old beater with arms full of apples?? What would such behavior unlock and allow us to reclaim? In a world of rejection, where risk is discouraged and a new idea may be besmirched with skepticism, we need to look back over our shoulder (some at a greater distance than others) and grab ahold of our early enthusiasm and passion.? In doing so, we just might realize that we’re ready to get back into apple sales, to proudly display our early thoughts and musings, to gather our idealism and do something new.