My daughters love to hear stories about me when I was a girl. Yesterday we had a small fruit salad at lunch; it had mandarin oranges in it. Both my girls like mandarin oranges, and so did I when I was about ten years old…

My family was getting ready to go out to eat. It was a very special occasion because we were going to eat with a group of family friends, and…we were going to a restaurant – a smorgasborg! Now the big draw about a smorgasborg is that all the eaters are able to choose just what they want on their plates. That’s exciting for a 10-year-old.

Everything looked so good, so delicious, as we passed through the serving line. Everything went smoothly as we filled our plates: my mother and father in the line with me. I suspect that their presence and verbal input at strategic moments kept me from any major logistical problems as I filled my plate with food. After making our food choices, we proceeded to the dining table where we enjoyed eating, talking, laughing and just being together with our friends.

After I had finished my plate of food, I wanted to go back for more: not for more of everything, but I asked my parents if I could go back for some more mandarin oranges…because I loved mandarin oranges! I was a well-behaved young girl and they freely gave me permission to get some mandarin oranges…by myself. In retrospect, that probably was not a good idea. I didn’t misbehave, but…

When I returned to the table, I was carefully balancing a large dinner plate (not a small salad plate) full of mandarin oranges. They were mountained upon the plate: beautiful, brightly-colored mandarin oranges! And I, bearing my plate carefully to the table, all-unsuspecting that I was doing anything particularly remarkable.

Then the adults at the table looked in my direction: they gasped, their eyes grew large – and I, a very shy girl – grew very, very self-conscious. The adults broke into exclamations of incredulity as to the size of my serving of mandarin oranges: I inwardly cowered, and crumpled, then broke into a spill of tears.

I hadn’t realized I had done anything wrong. The plate looked beautiful to me. Well…it was a bit over filled. “How are you going to eat it all?” The questions flew at me. “Waaaaah! I don’t know!”

I don’t clearly remember what happened next. I know I was extremely humiliated and very embarrassed as the adults’ laughter rang around me. And my plate of mandarin oranges? They were passed around the table to share with everybody…and everybody had some. I guess I did take a bit much. And yes, I still love mandarin oranges!