*With thanks to my children who waited to eat the cantaloupe so mommy could take another photo!*
One of my earliest and fondest memories from my childhood is of sitting on a bench in my apartment building. My great gramma had handed me a slice of cantaloupe with the rind on. I think it took me at least fifteen minutes to eat it. By the time I was done, my face was covered in sweet cantaloupe juice... even my bangs and braids were sticky! My shirt was a mess and my whole upper body needed to be washed pretty much... which was a bonus as that meant it was now pool time. I think, because of this memory, I have always loved and always will love cantaloupe over honeydew and watermelon.
Flash forward to now, to my own children who also love all melon types. It just dawned on me about 15 minutes ago that they have never had melon with the rind on it... eaten the way I did. I look out into my garden at the spreading watermelon plants and it makes me smile to think that, one day in the not-too-distant future, I will be able to offer them our own, homegrown melon.
I will plunk them outside on a lawn chair with a juicy slice.
I will smile and watch them eat their melon alllll the way down to the very very end.
I will laugh as I turn the sprinklers on to wash the juice from their faces!
-- to be continued --
