Mulberry

Mulberries

One of the things I love about being an adult is that I am now tall enough to reach mulberries right off the branches in the summer.

When I was growing up, the kids on our street would gather in front of our neighbor's house around this time every summer and gorge ourselves on the soft berries that stained our feet and hands a deep purple. Our feet were stained because we were all barefoot and the berries in question were all over the sidewalk, having fallen from the branches well above our reach.

We didn't care. This was a delicacy and we were not going to be put off by the fact that we were eating them right off the ground.  And the black ants that were competing for the fruits with us? We just knocked them off and ate the berry.

I have no idea how many dark ants actually were consumed along with the mulberries. For all I know, those ants possible consumed as a child are the source of my power now.  Hey, who am I to question?