Monkey Business

My mother said while growing up I was a real picky eater. I also reacted to seafood, especially shrimp. At one point I was fed beef and pig's liver cooked in different ways- at least once a day - because I needed the extra iron due to my anemia. But the one thing clear on my mind was how much I loved eating bananas with my Asian rice meal. Now in those days, I didn't know bananas came in different varieties; big and fat, long and large, short and stumpy, small and skinny, sweet, bland, yellow flesh, white flesh. Where I originated, every backyard had at least one banana tree. Local people even cook bananas! Not just for desserts, but as a main dish, too!

But me, I like 'em raw.

Where I now live I only get the "American" bananas. Whether or not they're imported from some hot, tropical island, who knows. I buy them at the store for a dollar and some cents per pound. Compared to the bananas I grew up eating, these GI bananas are smooth, long, perfectly curved like a half moon, and deliciously sweet. I spend a great deal of time picking the best looking bunch whenever I'm doing my rounds at the store.

I recently met my monkey. I adore him. He is ape-like because he has a hairy face (although the rest of his body isn't furry at all). He is like the gentle orang-utan who makes me smile and laugh everytime I needed to cheer up. He has long, slender arms that reach around my body and grab me just like how a parent primate would hold his baby. My monkey also has the strength of a gorilla; he is strong, powerful, commanding, and aggressively sexy. And this adorable, mankey just loves to eat, you guessed it right, BANANAS!

Destiny has its way of showing people linkage. Imagine the significance of this favorite fruit. Of all tropical fruits, the genus Musa showed itself up again in my transitional colorful life totally unexpectedly. I met the lover of my dreams by accident, he became the bestest of my male friends. Although I found him on a website, he provided me an address to directly contact him, and it said "monkey" on it...


Swing in this tree
Oh I am bounce around so well
Branch to branch
limb to limb you see
all in a day's dream
I'm stuck
Like the other monkeys here
I am a humble monkey
- dave matthews band