Mango Lessons

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love mangoes. They are literally my favorite food. NOT just my favorite fruit - favorite food!

When I was teaching, my students would bring mangoes to class when it was time for grades to be submitted. They figured that gifts of the luscious fruit might sway be worth and extra point or two when I entered their grades. Were they right?

I plead the fifth.

I do believe that mangoes a perfect metaphor for life. I’ve learned three key takeaways for my lifetime as mango aficionado.

1. Patience is key. Mangoes only come once a season. You have to patiently wait for the buds to appear and for the fruit to fully ripen. If you grab it too early, the mango will be hard, difficult to eat and lacking the fullness of flavor you deserve.

2. Timing is everything. Yes, you have to be patient, but you can also wait too long. If you procrastinate, you’ll find.a ground full of mangoes that have been pillaged with critters. Flies and worms all around. Or the mangoes will turn into mush in your hands. You want to grab the mango at its peak sweetness and juiciness. That takes study and precise timing.

3. Variety is the spice of life. There are thousands of varieties of mangoes in the world. They range in size, sweetness, consistency and color. Some you will love. Some you won’t like. Try as many as you can. Find the ones that tantalize your particular tastebuds.

4. Do you. There are many theories on how one should eat a mango. Bite and peel. Slice and dice. Cut and cube. There is no one single way to enjoy the fruit of life. Do what makes you happy and gives you the best experience.

Here’s a poem I share with students when I’m teaching them to write odes.

An Ode to Mangoes
You. 
You are like heaven. 
Like heaven wrapped up and hanging from a tree. 
Like heaven wrapped up, dangling, smiling at me. 
You are summer in my hand. 
In between my teeth. 
Sweet and sticky, 
Sliding down my face. 
	You taste like smiles and rainbows. 
You are like Christmas.
I wait for you, impatiently. 
Constantly looking and checking
Checking an looking
And I lament until darling buds appear
And I know the time is near, and
You and I will be reunited. 
You are the nectar of the gods. 
Of God. 
You are the forbidden fruit. 
No wonder Adam and Eve took bites. 
I took bike rides into foreign territories because 
My friends said, “they have a whole lotta trees over there.”
And like a band of pirates, we paraded in search of our treasure. 
Hopping fences, climbing trees until we escaped with the bounty. 
You are the silver lining after a storm
For I know you’ll be waiting for me on the ground. 
No climbing necessary. 
On my darkest days, when nothing seems right.
Nothing seems worth fighting for. 
It only takes a sliver, a slice of sunshine and sweetness to erase all the clouds. 
I would go to war for you. 
I’d run head first through a door for you. 
I’d fight a lion for you. 
I’d start fake crying for you. 
I’d swim with sharks for you. 
Actually, that would be crazy, but there are so many other things I’d do for your delish. 
You’re my every wish. 
My sweet, beautiful mango. 

p.s. - send mangoes my way