Watermelon Sugar High

Summer has been my favorite season from the time I was a kid. Summer means bright sun in blue skies, no schedule, lake days, back yard baseball games and rounding it all off with my favorite meal of my father's slider burgers, pan fried potatoes, fresh cut watermelon and corn on the cob. I can feel the breeze hitting my face as the wasps swarm our plastic plates on our back patio.

I grew up next to a 200-acre farm, that we had no stake in, but still relished off the sunsets on a summer night. I crave those days, out by the pool, overlooking the field and consuming enough watermelon to make several trips to the lady's room later that night. Those nights were topped off with a bon fires, board games, lots of laughter and an intense game of spoons and corn hole. Those days, with that meal was EVERYTHING.

I have been running off homesickness and nostalgia the past few days as my mid 20's feels like a constant identity crisis. Home is nothing like it was, the summers are still the same, but I am not. I dream of being home in those days with that meal in those moments, but I know nothing is the same as the memories from those perfect nights. Nonetheless, what hasn't changed in my love for watermelon.

We all know watermelon is like the national fruit of summer, but I cannot emphasize this enough when I say it is my favorite fruit; and probably one of the things I would have to have if I was on a desert island. I have so many core memories attached to this fruit. In high school everyone would joke about how they knew what I was bringing to the end of season potluck. I even carved out the word PROM into a melon to ask my friend to be my date.

In college, I was known as the watermelon girl, because anytime there was a free fruit tray, I would have the plate stacked seven melon slices high with just watermelon. I have mastered the skill set of slicing and dicing the thick outer shelled fruit and have even timed myself down to 6 minutes. I have strategies on how to get the best cut then split the fruit into two separate bowls between the A class of perfect melon cubes and the B class with the less crisp, mouth indulgent bites.

From the first week Costco drops melon to the last week, there is ALWAYS a watermelon in my house.

If that is not convincing enough, I created a videography and event coordination business with the name Watermelon Sugar Film and Events. Designed with the mission statement centered around that sweet crisp taste of biting into watermelon in the summer (As shown Below).

I have spent nights on the floor with someone I love talking and getting drunk on watermelon. Sharing nights of laughter and deep conversation while sharing my favorite food on this earth. Watermelon to me is laughter, it is sweet and crisp with a hard exterior. I am a watermelon and watermelon simply feel like home in a way.

Watermelon is more than my favorite smoothie drink, or fruit I tote around with me all summer, Watermelon is what makes me happy. When I graduated college, I threw a Watermelon themed graduation party. Sweet and Sour patch kid watermelons lined the tables, I had a backdrop with watermelon balloons for a photo booth and of course had a watermelon cake for dessert. My cap was designed with a watermelon intent, and I have a purse that is mainly for show dedicated as the shape of the fruit. Watermelon is a staple in who I am, I too am made up of mostly water, and honestly most of that water in my system, probably is from the sugary contents of watermelon itself.

My best friend and I are completely different yet complement each other, she also has an infatuation with a fruit which is pineapple. I loathe pineapple as she loathes watermelon, yet it is like we are two fruits that fit in a salad with each other perfectly. I have to disagree with that metaphor a little though, because I think it is a sin to put pineapple in a fruit salad where there is Watermelon. The watermelon just absorbs the pineapples tangy texture and makes the crisp taste of summer diluted. Nonetheless, I love sharing my love of fruit with someone whom I'm close with.

I long for the summers that made my favorite meal so special, I long for the hours spent in the back yard with family, the seconds of pan fired potatoes and watermelon I spent most my time eating. I long for the nights by the fire, talking till the sparks fizzle out. I long for what made summer so tasteful growing up. Watermelon has had a huge part in my life for just a sweet fruit. To me it's more than the taste of summer, it shares a taste of my outlook on life. It will probably be a main character with several more experiences I create in the future of summers and all seasons I can get my hands on it.

Watermelon is more than some fruit, it is sweetness, it is laughter, it is memories, it is experiences, it brings people together. But most of all, to me I live on a WATERMELON SUGAR HIGH, because to me, watermelon is happiness. (Go ahead sing the song, we know you're thinking about it).