Growing more than fruits and vegetables
I just spent the sweetest weekend in Chadbourn, NC celebrating one of the sweetest fruits. The strawberry!
Some of my sweetest childhood memories revolve around strawberries. Picking them with Grandma in Robeson County, sharing strawberry shortcake dessert with my sister (If I remember correctly, I liked the fruit and she liked the cream).
As children our parents always tell us to eat our fruits and vegetables in order to grow strong. Many parents watching this weekend's parade probably used my sweet ride as an opportunity to emphasize this lesson. I rode in an enormous shopping cart promoting the "Goodness Grows" campaign for the Department of Agriculture. When I say enormous, I mean my crown would have taken out the telephone lines had I not ducked.
The oversized shopping cart was worth more than the chance to take funny pictures in it and honk its blaring horn. It got me thinking. I used to grow with the help of fruits and veggies, but now I grow as a result of experiences. Even strange ones like riding in a shopping cart with a motor.
During this year I can feel that I've grown up in numerous ways. I had always heard that every young woman who takes on this role comes out changed and I have watched it happen to many of my predecessors, but I never imagined what the year would do for me. Now I know.
Others may not think that you can become worldly simply by experiencing one state to the fullest. But I know it's true. Our state is diverse. As I have traveled from the Tennessee border to the ocean, I have learned more than how to navigate my car. I have learned how to navigate myself through any situation, with any group of people. I have learned to be flexible and comfortable with ambiguity. And as strange as it sounds, I have learned how to be myself. I have been pushed down a path of self-discovery and have come out on the other side with the gift of being comfortable in my own skin and comfortable with knowing that everyone else has their own unique skin, too.
I haven't changed, just amplified the person that I have been. You'll only see slight differences because now I have broadened my horizons and accepted more experiences. In other words, if someone served strawberry shortcake, I would no longer stop with the strawberries. No, no, no! I would enjoy the experience of eating the whole thing!
Signing off Rachel Ray style...
Yum-O!
Jessica
Some of my sweetest childhood memories revolve around strawberries. Picking them with Grandma in Robeson County, sharing strawberry shortcake dessert with my sister (If I remember correctly, I liked the fruit and she liked the cream).
As children our parents always tell us to eat our fruits and vegetables in order to grow strong. Many parents watching this weekend's parade probably used my sweet ride as an opportunity to emphasize this lesson. I rode in an enormous shopping cart promoting the "Goodness Grows" campaign for the Department of Agriculture. When I say enormous, I mean my crown would have taken out the telephone lines had I not ducked.
The oversized shopping cart was worth more than the chance to take funny pictures in it and honk its blaring horn. It got me thinking. I used to grow with the help of fruits and veggies, but now I grow as a result of experiences. Even strange ones like riding in a shopping cart with a motor.
During this year I can feel that I've grown up in numerous ways. I had always heard that every young woman who takes on this role comes out changed and I have watched it happen to many of my predecessors, but I never imagined what the year would do for me. Now I know.
Others may not think that you can become worldly simply by experiencing one state to the fullest. But I know it's true. Our state is diverse. As I have traveled from the Tennessee border to the ocean, I have learned more than how to navigate my car. I have learned how to navigate myself through any situation, with any group of people. I have learned to be flexible and comfortable with ambiguity. And as strange as it sounds, I have learned how to be myself. I have been pushed down a path of self-discovery and have come out on the other side with the gift of being comfortable in my own skin and comfortable with knowing that everyone else has their own unique skin, too.
I haven't changed, just amplified the person that I have been. You'll only see slight differences because now I have broadened my horizons and accepted more experiences. In other words, if someone served strawberry shortcake, I would no longer stop with the strawberries. No, no, no! I would enjoy the experience of eating the whole thing!
Signing off Rachel Ray style...
Yum-O!
Jessica
posted by Jessica Jacobs, Miss North Carolina at
1:21 PM
