Tonight It Was a Bucket of Onions

Ever have those times when a huge task looms in front of you and you think, "I can't do this.  I...just...absolutely...can't...do...this...I...can't..."?  I had one of those tonight.

It was onions.

You see, today was the day to harvest our onions, so after quiet time this afternoon, the boys and I headed out to the garden.  Tobin and I dug them up, David and Shav carried them to the edge of the garden, and Josiah snipped off their tops and put them into a big bucket.  It was hot work, but pleasant to be all together doing it; and the job went quickly with so many hands helping.

And then it was time to swim.  :)  I had told the boys earlier in the day that after the onions were harvested, they could get in the pool.  Do you think they let me forget that?  Not a chance.  ;-)

Time marched on, and dinnertime arrived, then after-dinner jobs like putting the food away and loading the dishwasher, also giving Moriah a bath and tucking her in bed, and other tasks that invariably pop up in the life of a homemaker.  And still the onions sat in their bucket, waiting.

Because we have such a hard time keeping our onions from rotting, Jeff and I had planned to work together this evening to get them ready to freeze: I would peel off the dirty, yucky parts and get the good stuff out of each onion, and Jeff would run the food processor to chop them and then bag them for the freezer.  It's the system we used last year, and I'm always so grateful for Jeff's help.  But to tell you the truth, when night had fallen and the time had come for us to start working on the onions, I felt so overwhelmed by that piled-high bucket of dirty, smelly onions--some with rotten parts--that I felt like I simply couldn't do it tonight.  My body was worn out from a day which had included such things as cleaning Moriah's room and switching out her clothes for larger sizes...cleaning and organizing the upstairs bathroom, including mopping the floor...and jumping rope while the boys played in the pool this afternoon.  :)  I had absolutely no desire to stand up by the kitchen sink and work with onions!!

Well, suffice it to say that Jeff kindly encouraged me, and I picked up one onion and dealt with it, then reached down and picked up another one, and then just kept doing that until the bucket was empty.  Was I ever glad to see the bottom of that bucket!  :)

Despite my reluctance to begin the job, I am SO grateful that I did it and that it's over and behind me.  Now 25 cups of chopped onions are waiting in the freezer, which means that 25 times throughout the coming year, I'll be able to go to the freezer and reach for a bag of onions to add to some southwestern black bean chili or some ground beef grand style or some other recipe that calls for chopped onions.  And maybe when I do, I'll remember this night: how the job loomed large, but how by doing one small motion--picking up one onion--at a time, the task was accomplished.

Isn't that the way all tasks are accomplished--one little bit at a time?  :)