Summer in the Philippines usually means that it’s hotter than anything you’ve ever imagined. You emerge from the shower and you’re already sweating. Working from home (with no air conditioner) is an exercise in endurance. It’s when the thought of jeans, jackets or anything with sleeves makes you want to cry.
But it also means it’s the season of ripe and Indian mangoes, of a fruit called sineguelas (a tart, green or maroon “plum” slightly bigger than a cherry which oozes with juice as you bite into it). What makes sineguelas such a treat is that it only makes its appearance during summer, when it heralds slower days, long car rides to overbooked beaches and wearing flip flops all day long. Once its season is over, that’s it. You won’t see it again until next summer.
In a country with only two seasons (wet and dry), I love the idea of sineguelas. How you can find it in the markets once a year. How you can’t force it to ripen when it’s not ready. How biting into its juicy tartness brings back memories of summers long past.
We too have seasons in our lives. It might be the time for us to show up and show everyone the magnificence of our existence. Or it might be the time for us to take root, to grow in silence until we’re ready. And there’s no right or wrong time to be. Just like the sineguelas, we will ripen when we’re ready and we will grow when we need to.
It’s your season now…whatever that may be.
