grapefruit and tangerines

My parents live in a very old home, like over 100 years old and that is where I grew up. Until I went to college and then got married I had never lived anywhere else. It is a beautiful home on an acre on the river with lots of old oak trees and a dock and even a swimming pool. I love that house and so do the girls. I could write an entire post about that house and I will, but today it's about the fruit.

A couple of weeks ago I had to drop off something for my dad and we also needed some tangerines and grapefruti so we just helped ourselves to the trees that were bountifully stocked witht the fruit. I taught Piper to twist the fruit until they fell off the branch and the sweet fragrance of the tangerines filled our car on the way home and became very nostalgic for me.

I remember having orange fights with my older brothers and their friends (who I was madly in love with), taking the fruit that had already fallen to the ground and pelting each other with it or squeezing the sticky juice out over heads matting our hair together. These were hot summer days and the only way to get clean would be to hose off or jump in the pool, we were definitely not allowed in the house that messy.

I also remember my Aunt Gert who always used to serve us grapefruit with a cherry in the middle and topped with the slightest dusting of sugar. This is when I came to love the grapefruit. When I was a teenager in high school I was the first to wake up in the morning. My dad would get up while i was showering and getting ready and he would prepare a grapefruit for me to eat for breakfast, a grapefruit from his tree. We would sit together, he was usually reading the paper, and eat our grapefruit. Most of the time there wasn't a lot of conversation which was fine by me since I was not a morning person. My nickname was "Sunshine" in a sarcastic snear.

Now, I bring the grapfruit home to my own house and prepare it myself and as I am freeing the sections to eat I think about my dad and the sweet and considerate act of doing something for somebody besides yourself. I wish I could send you some grapfruit filled with the juice of this kindness.