The Summer of the Limes

       That summer didn’t have a particular theme song. There was no particular color that summer. But, ohh, the smell of fresh cut limes and limeade, that was the memory. 

Wherever I went that summer, to my potential future father in law’s, my mother’s house, my friend’s Spanish-style villa, limeade was served, and the scent of fresh cut lime lifted my soul.

         I, Vicky, was engaged to be married that summer. Life was getting hectic with work, planning the wedding for the end of summer, visiting all my college and high school friends, and spending time with my fiance, Jim. It was a scorching summer.

          I lived in a little condo near my purchasing job, in a nice suburb of Chicago. It was small, not very pretty, but it was my own. I was twenty five years old, and still had a lot to learn about life. I was just discovering that I was unsuited to my job, although I was making it work. It was funny to take a career test, and have the results say that the job I should not choose was a purchasing agent! That was my job!

         My mother kept all my mail at her house that didn’t clear my new address, so I would visit often and collect it. We also were co-planning the wedding together. She kept changing details that I arranged, and frankly, improving things. Instead of the dull, fragile, porridge colored dishes I picked out, she picked out nice Mikasa dishes. Instead of the bouquet of carnations and white lilies, she chose gorgeous stargazer lilies and roses. Instead of my hard-to-read, dull, gray invitations, she found white and gold. As I said before, I had a lot to learn, and no experience planning a wedding. My mother was a very social, glamorous person who had had experience planning her eldest daughter’s wedding five years before, and knew well the details of her friend’s past weddings. I think she went to weddings about twenty times a year! She had a lot of friends.

           It was two months before my wedding, and my aunt came up from Puerto Rico to visit and stay until the wedding was over. She was my godmother too, so though she always liked to stay at home, this was a big time in my life, and she came. She was just as glamorous as my mother, but her life had been less happy, so she appeared a little older. Her name was Nina.

One day, my mother had bought a bunch of clothes for my older sister Rita. I heard about it from my Aunt Nina. My aunt thought it was interesting because my mother had fought with Rita recently over something. I mentioned to my aunt that that is my mother’s way: she gives gifts to patch things up after a fight. I then went about my day, not thinking anymore of the conversation. 

Three days later, when I arrived at my mother’s house again, a fury awaited me in the form of my mother! Her eyes flashed fire, and she told me she was disowning me as a daughter!

She said I was saying bad things about her to her sister. I was completely stunned and very upset. Somehow, I made it up to my mother’s room and called my sister Rita. As I was telling Rita about what happened, my aunt stepped into the room and apologized, saying she never said anything to my mother, but she had told my grandmother. My grandmother then told my mother. That really didn’t console me too much at the moment. I had never had my mother so angry with me. I felt terrible. This was supposed to be the best part of my life, and yet, my mother might not forgive me for what she considered a humiliation. It doesn’t feel good to have people talking behind your back, and it really doesn’t feel good to be the one who gossiped and was caught. Part of me thought, well it’s true! 

I apologized to my mother that evening as she was muttering and ironing tablecloths.

She seemed to accept my apology. The summer of the limes went on.

My workmate and friend who lived in the Spanish villa with her parents was named Ella.

Ella had had me over with my fiance Jim to watch a movie a few weeks before. All of a sudden,

with a downcast face, she told me at work that her mother was going to have a talk with me, and not to be mad at her. She said that the way Jim was entwining his fingers with mine was a little suggestive, and that we sat really close to each other on the couch watching the movie. 

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! I was absolutely shocked! Ella had been there from the beginning of the relationship, and here she was making her mother disapprove of me. What had we done wrong? She did look very upset, and promised that she would stop her mother from talking with me. I needed some space to process this new development. I don't even know how I responded to Ella, but I felt completely winded and unsettled.

Ella called me a few days later saying she didn’t want this to put a damper on our friendship, and that she had been venting to her mom because she was jealous. I was inwardly a little softened by 

Ella humbling herself in this way. I decided to make an effort, and forgive her.

My fiance Jim brought me to a dinner at a Mexican restaurant hosted by his work pals. More limeade and lots of tortilla chips. Margaritas with fresh lime too. We had a jolly time, but I did notice how pretty Tracey was, my fiance’s coworker. I was very confident though, and didn’t get jealous in my turn. The coworkers talked about childbirth and other slightly embarrassing subjects, though only my fiance’s older married coworker Agnes knew anything about it. We had a nice time, and I was glad that his coworkers seemed fun. 

Then it was time for me to clean up my condo, move out, and move in with my parents for a bit before the wedding. I arranged a short vacation for the move, and a longer one for my honeymoon. I have to admit, I didn’t give much thought to cleaning. I didn’t even have dusting tools to work with, just paper towel for the occasional spill, spray for the bathtub.

Jim was determined to help me win back my security deposit on the condo. I didn’t know what a disastrous thing this would be. We divided up what needed to be done in the condo, and it took several hours. When Jim was done with his side, he had to do my side too, because I didn’t clean it that well. He was not happy. I called the owner of the condo, and he and his wife came over, and happily gave us the security deposit. Then Jim and I went to stand near his car, and he had to tell me what he thought about how dirty the place was. Growing up, I cleaned bathrooms on the weekend, and washed dishes on certain days, but that was it. My mother usually had a housekeeper. 

I look back, and I think Jim was really picking a fight, because he had lost interest in me.

Tracey, his coworker, was there, and she was probably more fun. Or maybe, he didn’t want a wife who didn’t notice dust and dirt too well. A hot wind blew at us, and it only seemed to irritate Jim more. We fought and I couldn’t believe the language coming out of his mouth. He agreed to take my things up to my parents, and then we would be parting ways. What a disastrous end to all my plans and dreams! 

Tears silently flowed down my face all the way up to the northern suburb where my parents lived. Once there, I told my surprised parents that Jim had broken up with me, and the wedding was off. I just lay immobile in my childhood’s room for the rest of my vacation. My grandmother brought me some limeade. Crazily enough, it still tasted good, and smelled even better. It brought me back to some carefree childhood memories. I slowly got up and embraced life again.

        The years went by, and I still enjoyed limeade. I had this crazy optimism that even though Jim had broken my heart, there was someone better out there. It took me three years, but I found him. I had also worked on my cleaning skills, took up ballroom dancing, and made a career change from buyer to cosmetologist. When Tom came along, I had more to offer, and I learned my lesson about my mother too. She is perfect, and generous, and can do no wrong!

The End