It was one of my friend’s (from elementary school) birthday yesterday. I thought about her as I wrote the date on some forms at the bank. And made a mental note to check when I got back to the computer. I was surprised to get an email from her later:
Hi Jen,
It’s my birthday today – and, so I’d like to make a blog request. Could you please write a bit about your family’s love of eating lemons. I remember staying at your place when I was 11 (I think) and we found lemons in the top bunk. They were all dried up. It made quite an impression on me.
Some questions remain – Why was Natoline eating lemons in bed? Why didn’t she eat them in the kitchen? Did they give your room a lemony smell? Weren’t lemons really expensive in the Yukon? Didn’t your mom notice the disappearing lemons? What did your mom use lemons for? Did she bake with them, or make salad dressing?
My mom used Real Lemon. My parents liked to put it in water with some sugar, I think.
I can’t really say why Nat was eating lemons in her bed. I can say though, that we weren’t allowed to eat sugar growing up. We have a history of diabetes in the family. My dad was pretty strict about it. We were also not allowed to put sugar in our Kool-Aid. So, if you ever came to our house in the summer, and we had Kool-Aid, it was the unsweetened kind…my mouth is salivating right now thinking about that Kool-Aid tartness.
As for the lemons in bed…I’m not sure. Maybe we thought it was a treat–fresh-fruit-in-the-Yukon-sort-of-thing. Also, am not sure that my mum would miss them. Don’t you remember, we were the ones cooking!
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