Melon-choly Musings

 Happy Summer Outside Lunches!!!  According to Rea, everything tastes better when you eat it outside...  I tend to agree. I love our little outdoor oasis - there's something so peaceful about eating out in the fresh air!

I bought my first watermelon of the summer at Costco yesterday for $5.49 each.  (I felt a pang of yesteryear nostalgia as I remembered my grandpa giving them away for free out of the back of his pickup every Sunday after church...)  Anyway, a very nice elderly gentleman at Costco was standing next to me, perusing the selection of watermelons.  I watched him pick one up, thump it with his hand, and put it in his cart.  He seemed to know what he was doing, so I asked "How do you know you're getting a good one that's ripe?"  He said if you thump it like a drum and it sounds hollow inside, then you know it's good.  I thanked him and commenced my hunt for the perfect watermelon. 

I guess I looked lost, because a few moments later, the same man came over and said, "Would you like me to help you pick one out?"  I was pretty sure that I could handle finding a fantastic watermelon, but since I wanted to be SURE it was a great one, and since he was so kind and thoughtful in offering, I took him up on his offer.  I picked  up the perfect watermelon pictured above, gave it a good thump, and handed it over to this mysterious, kind, Costco-angel for approval.  He gave it a series of thumps, gave me a wink, and handed it back saying, "You did good, dear."  OK so I seriously almost started crying in Costco.  Partially from being on the receiving end of this grandfatherly stranger's kindness, and partially from missing my own grandpas, both of them. 

This tender moment segway-ed itself into hilarity when he turned toward his wife and I overheard him say,  "I was just helping the young lady, and now she has some very nice melons!"  Thank you, Costco, for the great laugh, and thank Ya'shar for making the laughs live on when I got home by saying, "Hey, what's up with the giant cucumber??!!"