Tangerines

My diet was super healthy both times I was pregnant. I didn’t obsess over what I put in my mouth. I simply listened to what my body wanted. Gosh, I so wish I could tune into my body like that again.

During my pregnancies my sweet tooth went on vacation. I didn’t have a single piece of chocolate. I gave up the sweet-elixir-of-life known as Coca-Cola. And I had ice cream on only one occasion.

While I didn’t have any truly bizarre cravings, I did have tastes for certain things. When this happened I knew it was my body telling me that it needed something. I went through phases of eating only fresh fruits and vegetables. Any cooked veggies turned me off. I knew when I wanted a roast beef sandwich EVERY DAY for lunch that my body must need iron. When I craved eggs and cheese I needed protein. Then there was that week when all I wanted were canned peaches and sweet potatoes for snacks. My body was screaming for Vitamin A.

There was an instance when I was pregnant with Mr. A. We were stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and living off-post in Fayetteville. It was August and I was seven months huge. I woke up one morning with an intense desire for tangerines. Just thinking about them pulled my cheeks into a sour puss and made my mouth water. Off I went in search of tangerines.

Well, you may or may not know that tangerines are a winter fruit. Nowhere to be found in North Carolina in August. I knew this. I stopped and asked myself what could my body need? Vitamin C? Citric acid? Folic acid? I tried a glass of orange juice trying to fool my body into thinking that it was satisfied.

No luck. I specifically wanted tangerines. So I went on a quest through the commissary and every civilian grocery store in town. I even looked for tangerine-flavored candies. I know tangerine is one of the flavors in the Life Savers Tropical Fruit roll but I couldn’t even find that.

Then walking through a Winn-Dixie I stopped in front of a cooler. I spied the Breyer’s Peach ice cream and thought, Why not? I took it home, ate two scoops of the peach ice cream and was cured of my tangerine craving. I don’t know what peaches and tangerines have in common but it worked! I threw away the rest of the carton of ice cream after Mr. A was born.

Now we live in sunny Florida and I have access to tangerines as soon as they are in season. A Florida native told me that it’s tradition to put a tangerine in kids’ Christmas stockings. So I’ve done it for the past 13 years. One year I almost didn’t do it because I didn’t think the kids ate them. When I said that I wasn’t going to bother I almost had a peasant uprising on my hands. Now the kids make sure I buy them every year.

I love these little, orange fruits that are a pain in the ass to peel and are full of seeds. But the end result is so worth it. Every time I eat one I think of Mr. A and my tangerine quest. Good stuff.