Tangerines

...they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

-"This is Just to Say" William Carlos Williams

Today, one of my students brought me a box of tangerines, and that poem went through my head. As a child, I never understood why some people gave each other oranges for Christmas. But, now that I'm an adult, I crave citrus when the temperature drops. It reminds me of sunshine. I think about the sunlight swelling inside each segment, and I want it to drip down my throat, light up my limbs, heal the bitter cold that seems trapped inside me.

What other job affords you such satisfying luxuries, like little gifts from God?