The Apple Of My Eye

It’s apple season, which means my beloved Honeycrisp is back in the produce market. The Honeycrisp is a relatively new apple – a cross between the Macoun and Honey Gold. It’s my favorite apple to eat raw, deliciously perfect in texture, flavor and juiciness. Go enjoy one while you can. It’s worth every penny.

But this week, as I spent time in the kitchen peeling and slicing Granny Smiths and Royal Galas for two apple pies and a caramel apple cake, I wasn’t really thinking about the fruit. I was thinking about another kind of apple. The one created by Steve Jobs.

Actually, the fruit was long overtaken in popularity by the computer company, at least on Google. This morning, I searched for “apple,” and Google gave me 21 choices pertaining to Apple Computer before I ever found any mention of the fruit. I had to smile. We have indeed managed to make apples a part of our daily diet.

But not only do we crave our Apple products, we have found ourselves in love with the creator. When he succeeded, we cheered. When he became ill, we prayed for him to get well. And when he died, we grieved.

I can’t think of another well-known CEO in America that I even admire, much less would mourn for the way I did when I heard Steve Jobs had died. My emotional response made me wonder what it was about him that captured more than my loyalty, but also my heart.

For me, Steve Jobs’ two greatest accomplishments run far deeper than the pleasure he gave us with our iPads and iPhones – and believe me, I am not discounting the technological revolution he led and won.

Steve Jobs gave the world a sense of hope and a glimpse of beauty. His designs play on our natural design to hope that life will get better and to say, “WOW!” when we are in the midst of beauty.

Of course my hope doesn’t lie in the power of my iPod, and if yours does, well, it might be time to trade in that black turtleneck you’re wearing. But Steve Jobs did help me remember that at the end of the day, we are all hungry to believe in something better than ourselves, and we are starving to have a piece of something beautiful. I am grateful to him for reminding me of these truths.

For a fantastic recipe using these Honeycrisp apples, check out Leigh's blog: One Big Happy Table