Desiree’s father lives just outside Bayawan on the island of Negros. His house, along with the houses of many other relatives (Desiree’s aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.), is both surrounded and shaded by an assortment of fruit trees. We are talking lemon trees, mangoes, cocoa, rambutan, pomelo, rose apple, banana, avocado, breadfruit, and so on—all of the trees carefully tended by generations of her family.
On our first visit to her father, I mentioned to
Ash, her brother, that I love rose apples and had not eaten one for many years.
Within two minutes, Ash was scuttling up a tree and dropping ripe rose apples
down on the ground for me.
Yesterday, Desiree mentioned to her uncle that she
wanted a fresh coconut. Within two minutes, her cousin, Carlo, was climbing
high (scary high) into a coconut tree and dropped several fresh coconuts to the
ground. Her uncle Hernan whacked a couple open, and we feasted on the fruits of
the labor of many generations of a close and loving family.
Look carefully at the photograph of coconut tree to find Carlo high above the ground with nothing but his own strength and ingenuity keeping him there.
—Mitchell Hegman
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