Cantaloupe reminds me of my grandparents.  Not cut-up chunks of cantaloupe.  But rather  eating cantaloupe with a spoon, scooping it straight out of the rind.  More specifically, it reminds me of sitting at the breakfast nook in my grandmother’s kitchen.  It makes me remember Grandpa, who would be eating grapefruit (not cantaloupe) with one of those tiny little spoons just big enough to scoop out the little triangles of grapefruit flesh. It even reminds me of shopping for cantaloupe with Grandma.  I wonder how many cantaloupes her 19 grandchildren went through…

The proper way to eat cantaloupe

As late as 1998 (maybe even 1999), Grandma served cantaloupe to me and my-then-boyfriend, Aaron, at that same breakfast nook, while she and Grandpa teased each other about the way the other was pouring coffee and buttering toast.  They’d each make their little jokes and then wink at us with sly smiles on their faces.  Those memories make me smile.

It also makes me wonder what sorts of things will remind Little Bean of all the great people that will be in his/her life.  Thinking back about all the little things that make up our lives, and about all the little things that are still to come in the new phase of our lives, I am reminded of how privileged I am (makes me a little misty-eyed, which I would like to blame on pregnancy hormones but really it happens all the time…what can I say?).  I love all those little moments, and am so happy to have shared many of those moments with the people I love.  I’m looking forward to the moments to come with our little one.