continued from page pomegranates always ….

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pomegranates always make the superfood list.”

“What’s a superfood?” he asked.

“Well, it’s a food that is rich in vitamins, minerals and has lots of good stuff that offer benefits to a person’s health,” I said.

Mom allowed the three kids to each pluck one pomegranate from the tree to take home with them. I plucked two. I held them in my hands and thought about the saplings my stepfather had given to me and my sister in the last decade of his life. My sapling grew for a couple of years, but as happens sometimes, it died a mysterious death. In the months before Johnny passed away, he had vowed to dig up another sapling for me so I could try again.

Over the fence, I saw the large fig tree on the other side of the yard. Being a summertime fruit, the figs are gone now. Mom said that the birds got most of them this year.

Pears. Pomegranates. Figs. Persimmons. Pawpaws. They are fruits that have thrived in Georgia’s heat and humidity for generations and generations. There was a time when everyone had at least one of these trees in their yards, but today, these fruits are rather uncommon, and in some areas of Georgia, they are unknown. Still, their fruits are delicious and continue to bind us to another time and place. Each bite is a reminder of the beauty that can be found in the simplest of moments — old and new.