Advertisement
Published: April 14th 2006
This weekend has been one of those perfect ones. I think you can imagine what this means to me....I even had a bit of a chance to read some of the NYTimes Sunday Magazine today. My roomates and I are growing something together. A couple of weeks ago when we all met we pulled out our little seed packets. Pushing our little pieces into the soil first. In the past couple of weeks we have been watering them with ice cream and empanadas (think part pizza part croissant). Every morning we meet around our massize living room table and see how much our tender leaves and shoots have grown. As I closed my eyes this weekend I realized that under the ground there are roots stretching their fingers in all directions......reaching for each other. We are growing stronger and brighter and while we have arguments we walk away knowing something more important about one another.
This morning I woke up at 1 and ran out of the house because I needed money and food and the grocery closes at 2pm on Sunday. When I came back I still didn't really talk to anyone. No one was really talking. People were in their own worlds. On their computers, deep between the pages of a books. It was one of those types of mornings. I started in on my breakfast (potatoes, red peppers, onions, and eggs all whipped up together.) Amy soon came in and I asked her if she wanted any. Her first job was to go ask anyone else if they wanted any breakfast. Soon Amy and Jennie came back into our tiny kitchen and we all started chopping, giggling, filling Amy in on our night before. Amy, the most reservered of the roomates, suddently bluttered out, between the layers of a pieled onion, "I am so glad that I live here. You girls are so nice. It's so wonderful." Jennie and I instantly both exclaimed "Yay!!" You see, Jennie and I know that Amy is going through a tough spot in her life. She came down here to get away. We were so happy that we could be part of that process....that we could be her friends.
Last night Javier, one of our apartment managers, invited our house over to his. He was having a party. After the hour + bus ride we squeezed into Javiers apartment carrying bottles of beer and wine. The place was filled with people on the floor sitting on pillows and eating. Listening to good music, smoking cigarettes and enjoying each others company. It felt good to be somewhere so comfortable but a bit awkward. As soon as we walked into the apartment we were known as the foreigners. For the first hour or so Luke, Caitlin and I stood in a little circle. Having a good time....but not interacting with anyone else.
I don't know when but at some point the music was lowered and everyone moved into the livingroom. The reason for the party was thusly unvailed. It was the one year anniversary of Javiers first apartment. Each roomate spoke about why this apartment was so meaningful for them. For Javier it was that this was his first place....all of his things were in this place. He had done this one his own. After the roomates spoke a candle was passed around and their friends shared memories about the apartment. Afterwords a watermelon was cut into quarters and people took turns burrying their faces into it. This anniversary ceremony was so beautiful. I was so deeply touched that we were asked to be part of it. I wish I had thought to do something like this in my first house....the Milroy Mansion. The Mansion was a horrible house. It was falling apart.....once sewer backed up and shower water would leak through our washingmachine hookups. There were mushrooms in the shower. I know all of my parents were shocked at the state of this house. I however didn't see these things. I saw the hard work we put into it to make it liveable. I saw 5 20 something kids starting out on their own. I saw the beauty of independence.
Back to the watermelon. I realized as I was taking my second mouthful of watermelon that this fruit is a wonderful thing. Its not a fruit that I eat a lot. It is however a fruit that has been there for some of my favorite memories. Being 16 and celebrating the 4th of July in Rome while eating watermelon and singing "American Pie" over and over again. Being 20 and enjoying the late Spring Washington weather and watermelon with three girls: Sarah Boyd, Mariah Brooks and Serena Becker, who would be my three dearest friends. Girls I would grow with....learning what life was and pushing through the mess with extatic screaming (the four of us don't laugh when we are around each other. We scream. We are a force to be reckoned with). And finally my most current watermelon memory. Being in a new country, starting a new part of my life.
After the watermelon ceremony things got more relaxed. I got a little tipsy....Spanglish started pouring out of my mouth. I dont even know where it came from. In Javiers tiny kitchen we made friends....and by the end of the night. The foreigners were not so foreign.
Watermelon truly is a powerful fruit.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.06s; Tpl: 0.021s; cc: 7; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0335s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Auntie San
non-member comment
Watermelon the fruit of memories
When I saw that title the 1st thing I thought of was Lake Manitou.. we've had many watermelon memories there.. sure you also have shared a watermelon or 2 there with your cousins and lake family. Keep up the great writting Liz, Love it!!