Watermelon and Mint … there’s something about the sweet, soft crunch of the summer fruit, that when combined with the bright flavor of fresh mint, makes me savor life a little more.
I first discovered the flavor combo about 2 years ago. It was our anniversary and there was a chic Indian restaurant in a near-by town that we’d been wanting to try. The watermelon salad came recommended to me by someone with good taste. It had been a hard last month or two and I was ready for a change for the better, even if that merely meant lunch. So despite my skepticism of the sweet and salty combo, I gave it a go.
And when the plate arrived, with miniature pink towers perfectly perched alongside exotic cheese columns and spectacularly spiraled, minty greens…I was afraid to disturb the masterpiece with my fork. Obviously, leaving a plate undisturbed is “bad form” in a restaurant and when my dainty fork disturbed the work of art and found itself in my mout
h, the most wonderful flavor combo reached my heart…and I was changed. LOL
I really loved it that much!
You see, a of couple months prior, my family and I had gone to the county fair- a tradition I vaguely remember as a child and one I made a regular habit once I had children. We weren’t into the rides too much-they were too pricey. But the dirt roads, the farm animals, the 4H tents, country bands and the cotton candy, funnel cakes and pit beef brought a certain allure I just couldn’t resist. And this year had been no exception.
But like all good things seem to do…our home grown tradition was eventually tainted with disappointment when contaminated fair food gave me a gravely ill infection that not only had me longing to recover my gut, but quite frankly, hoping I’d pulled through the whole ordeal alive. You see, it would be my luck that my body would launch an auto-immune response to the bacteria it had encountered and instead of attacking the foreign bacteria, it began attacking my own joints and tissues. Ulcers formed in the soft tissues of my mouth, hard nodules began popping up on my legs and my joints swelled and ached like I never thought they could.
While I always loved food and held an appreciation for it, for the first time in my life, I gained a life-altering appreciation for standing and walking…shit, existing without pain. I was 35 years old and I walked like I was 100. I was slow and stiff and in a ton of pain that no over the counter meds could touch. Then again, my gut was too sick to tolerate the meds anyway. I had to wear tennis shoes, unlaced, so that I could get them on, because the soles of my feet couldn’t take the bare floors that I was so accustomed to walking on barefoot. And if my legs weren’t elevated, my ankles swelled and ached even more than they already did. Forget trying to walk on sand! Sleeping was a constant flipping routine as the pain in my dependent joints would wake me from my slumber. And if all of that wasn’t uncomfortable enough…once my intestines stopped bleeding, my diet consisted of nothing but rice, plain pasta, broth and ginger ale-no fiber, no dairy, nothing acidic or spicy, no alcohol or caffeine. I used to be a vegetarian and wine and coffee are my fuel- a month and a half without vegetables, flavor or my favorite beverages…talk about torture! Not to mention the constant monitoring for kidney failure that came along with my condition.
I was out of work for almost two months. Specialists were involved and for the umpteenth time in my crazy health historied life, someone said to me “This is actually very unusual. You are a very interesting case!”….Yeah, I know! I’ve got 1 : 1,000,000 kinda luck that way!
But I do have a one in a million kind of luck! My whole life has been one big fucking miracle…really!
That experience could have made me bitter. It could have led me to plaster social media with inflammatory “Never go to the County Fair” statements. It could have made me feel sorry for myself and my inherit bad luck. (You really wouldn’t believe how many strange and terrible things I have lived through). But instead…perhaps by the grace of God…I turned inward. I recognized this for what it was, a strange fluke, one of life’s unfortunate anomalies. And I thought about my cousin, who has had to learn to walk three times over. And the elderly…who walk that way, because they feel that way. And the people who don’t get to walk at all. I didn’t know at that time, if I would ever recover much less live through this illness. So I appreciated every moment that I was able to rest, every second I wasn’t in searing pain and every opportunity I was given to continue to live. Sunsets held an even higher significance than they did before. Every day was a gift. I used my time at home to complete stationary home projects-like building our US state pin map and creating wall art using our collected corks and old vacation photos.
And when the steroids finally kicked in…I literally jumped up and down like a giddy child. “Look!!!” I told my husband, “Look what I can do. No pain!” I ran around that day and did everything imaginable. I ran laundry up and down the basement steps, cleaned out closets that had been neglected for years, I even cleaned out the car…and I rejoiced doing it! I took every advantage of being able to move freely and I vowed I would never again take that privilege for granted.
And I haven’t.
So here’s to the cocktail that reminds me of the sweetness that came during the trial of harder times. Watermelon and fresh mint does that for me…like an anniversary date lunch after a really tough couple of months. Sometimes life is sweet and other times it holds a snappy bite…but most of the time, it’s both. And we just have to learn how toss in a little vodka, stir that shit up and drink it. Because it, like life, is good!
Watermelon Mint Goodness
- Chopped watermelon
- Watermelon vodka
- Chopped mint
- Tonic water (could also sub for seltzer or Sprite)
Mixed to taste and served over ice. And Enjoy! Enjoy every sip, every day, every gift.
