it's time!

I just went to the store to get milk and saw a bin of watermelons. Skeptical that it might be too early, I decided to purchase just a quarter of a melon, wrapped up in plastic with a price tag of $1.79. I could take the risk with that price...if it was bad, it wouldn't be a huge loss.

But oh, to my utter delight, it was divine. Which means, it is watermelon season!

I ate half of this piece pictured with a fork on the cutting board. No time for a plate. No time to take it to the table.

As I devoured this beauty, I thought of three memories:

1. At some point in our childhood, my brother told me (while eating watermelon at a family picnic) that if he ever fell into a lot of money, he would buy watermelons in bulk, eat just the middles and give the rest to the poor. And I remember thinking he was genius.

2. In highschool I went camping with a few girlfriends. While other high schoolers were consuming other things in large quantities, the four of us decided to get an enormous watermelon, and we ate the entire thing in one sitting. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it led to dozens of bathroom trips that night. Dozens of trips.

3. I remember with amazing clarity, the watermelon juice I was served one day in India. The watermelon had been in a cooler, and they put chunks in a blender, strained the seeds, and poured it into a frosty glass. It was hot that day, and I honestly had never been served anything more perfect in my whole life.

So here's to watermelon season! If it weren't for Christmas, I'd say it's the most wonderful time of the year.