Just Enough

Family legend has it that Aunt Emily, a maiden lady, was a very frugal woman. You see, she had learned very young how to make do. She had seen firsthand how to do so and she could not and would not see herself doing otherwise!

The story goes that Aunt Emily went about living her life with a “Just enough” attitude. She had just enough clothes, just enough furniture, just enough food, and just enough friends. She spent just enough time combing her hair up into a bun in the mornings, just enough time cooking and cleaning, just enough time helping out at church and just enough time visiting relatives. And I have to admit that she thought that what she gave at church and to others was just enough as well. She was simply, plainly and absolutely a person who could be nothing but just enough. I should say, that was, until the fall of 19-ought-1.

You see, Aunt Emily had planted her garden that year, as always, with just enough corn, just enough peas, just enough green beans, and just enough squash and tomatoes. But, this particular year, poor Aunt Emily had not counted on what happened with the just enough pumpkin seeds she had planted.

To her dismay, more than enough pumpkins had taken over her garden. More than enough pumpkin vines spiraled through the squash, over the beans and around the corn. There were just simply more than enough bright orange pumpkins everywhere. The vines even climbed over the fence and spilled into the pasture.

You can only imagine Aunt Emily’s reaction. She was beside herself, because for the first time in her life she had more than enough of something. How would she ever live this down, after all, she was the epitome of “Just Enough” frugality. Well this simply had to be rectified. She couldn’t have more than enough pumpkins filling her garden when the family came to visit on Sunday. She had, she believed, always set the example for her nieces and nephews of a perfectly “just enough” way of life.

So Aunt Emily put her pride aside and picked all of the more than enough pumpkins, spending much more than her normal just enough time working in the garden.

Very early the next morning Aunt Emily spent just enough time getting dressed and just enough time heating the wood burning stove with just enough wood. Then, she went to work cutting, cleaning and cooking the too many pumpkins. She put in just enough sugar, just enough spice and just enough cream and eggs to make just enough pumpkin pie filling for……, listen to this….., 200 pumpkin pies. Yes you heard right-Just Enough Emily was about to bake 200 pumpkin pies!!

Where a frugal woman like Just Enough Emily got 200 pie pans we just do not know to this day. But, all that morning and into the afternoon, she cooked and mixed and rolled and filled. Then she baked way beyond her just enough cooking time that day.

Hours later there were pies cooling on the kitchen counter……, pies cooling on the kitchen table….., pies cooling on the dining room table….., pies cooling on the window sills……, and pies cooling all… the…. way…. up the stairs.

And as if this wasn’t more than enough……, as the story goes ……., she spent that very afternoon loading her wagon and delivering her more than enough pies to all of her neighbors, friends and relatives. She even made some new friends as she shared her pies with all she saw.

She had never felt more than her just enough share of joy before……., but that day had changed her. You see, never before had Aunt Emily taken more than enough time to give more than enough of anything to more than enough people.

Just Enough Emily had learned a valuable lesson that day. And every year from then on, when her more than enough pumpkins over- ran her garden, she baked her more than enough 200 pumpkin pies and shared them with her…. now….. more than enough friends.

Well….., I believe that’s more than enough of this story, but you have to admit, when all is said and done, that Great- Great Aunt Emily had grown just enough pumpkins after all! Now the moral of this little tale is that when it comes to giving, there is no such thing as………………, “Just Enough!!!”

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