Apples and Grapes

Growing up in a family of strong women and dogmatic men, one usually gets taught analogies and stories that help to offer some advice about how women should treat men and how men should treat women.

Through experience, we have learned that although these stories may not hold true for every situation; there is useful advice and maybe even a little motivation to rethink your own relationships within these feel good stories. Sometimes you just have to be open-minded and accepting.

- Women are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree. They're steady, loyal, understanding, and beautiful inside and out; and most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Though, these are the apples that are definitely worth a skinned knee or elbow. Instead, they sometimes take the apples from the ground. Those aren't as good, but they are easy, safe, plentiful. Now, the apples at the top of the tree think that something is wrong with them, when in actuality they are the highest quality. They just have to wait for the right man to come along, one who is brave, smart, and secure enough to climb up... to the top of the tree.

- Men are like grapes. They begin small in bunches with other similar grapes. If the right women come along and care for them, the grapes will be sweet and delicious. One day they can be cultivated and worked into something smoother, then eventually into a fine wine that ages well. However, if not taken care of, over time these grapes will become bitter, dry out, and rot.

There have been many group gatherings where the truths and fallacies of relationship analogies have been discussed. All in good fun, there's nothing wrong friendly stories that make you re-evaluate the 'fruit' in your life. I suppose it's also important to know that, in time, life and relationships are what you make of them and you should be the person you want to be treated like. What do you think?