Birthday Tomato

Ripe!

I ate one. I have been watching the one to the left in the photo for a week, as it ripened on my countertop. That was the one I wanted for my birthday meal on Sunday. Picking it on a foggy day, placing it carefully in the basket, and trying not to bump it - preventing bruising, I carried it off the island to wait. This tomato has patiently grown from a tiny seed in February last to a full grown fruit in September. Ready to leave the plant, now dead, and become a delicious meal for me. I ate it that night as my meal. I took a bite, sweet juice spilling out. It was as though I was tasting the months, days, and hours of time. The fruit had been watered, fertilized, warmed by the sun, protected by a straw bed. I enjoyed every moment of its growth.