When i say that i love papaya…

I love papaya.

Although i thought i hated papaya…

last year I remember going to the grocery store with my fiancé and picking up a papaya. We passed the big display of them and he smiled and said let’s get one. he remembered eating them growing up in gambia and convinced me that i will like it. There is really not a food that i don’t like, and i love fruit so i was excited.

however, I took one bite and i was so disappointed. it just tasted musty and not good to me. I wouldn’t get on the papaya train so he gladly took the cut up container to work that night.

fast forward, the first thing you notice when arriving at my permanent site here in the North bank of the gambia are elegant, giant papaya trees in our garden. They are loaded with large clusters of big round beautiful papayas. I was excited to see them standing so tall and sure and wonderful but felt hesitant about eating them thinking about my first experience a year ago.

the thing i hated from a walmart in america has become one of my most favorite things in life here in the gambia. It is the same fruit; but it is not the same at all. Here, papaya is juicy and sweet and perfect. I eat it almost every day, sometimes 2-3 times a day! I cannot get enough.

It’s kind of like life. Something you thought you didn’t like in one season or place in your life can become your favorite thing. It is the same something; but it is not the same at all. it makes me really think about my life and how things can change. At one point in my life, I was single for five years and I didn’t want to get married. I was traveling and living a good life, but the idea of finding ‘the one’ i hated. I was disappointed; the idea of marriage had tasted musty and not good to me.

and then suddenly, unplanned and out of nowhere I found the most beautiful, intelligent, kind, stoic, good man to ever exist. His warmth and sweetness and his kindness and gentleness were like nothing i had ever tasted. He has a wonderful place in the world and is solid in how he stands in it. He knows who he is and he knows how to treat people. He puts all the people he loves first and takes the best care of them. There is no one like him. I cannot get enough of him. and now, i get to marry this man and it is sweet and perfect.

I think heaven will be lined with these same huge, tall, sure, elegant Gambian papaya trees. and right now, being with my fiancé is like heaven on earth.

(THE CONTENT OF THIS WEBSITE IS MINE ALONE AND DOES NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, THE PEACE CORPS, OR THE GAMBIAN GOVERNMENT.)