Summertime is the season of green trees, colorful blooming flowers and honey suckle. All of these things should bring pleasant thoughts and feelings, but for me honey suckle makes my stomach turn. I have only eaten honey suckle once in my lifetime, and it was definitely the last.
There were several factors that made the honey suckle experience negative for me, so I’ll just start at the beginning. I was in elementary school. It was a hot summer day, the Las Vegas sun was beating down, making play time outside less than pleasurable. It was the weekend and my uncle invited me to stay that night with him. When I was little my uncle was the coolest person I knew. He had the most interesting job and really cool hobbies. I always wanted to be around him. I remember begging him to let me come over and stay with him. Sometimes he would say yes, but he would very soon after break his promise, but I would always hold on to hope. Again I asked and again he said yes, and the plans were made. After work he would pick me up and we would have dinner and watch a movie at his house. I was so excited. It was all I could talk about. To preoccupy me, my mother took me to the grocery store with her. I remember complaining about being hungry, but I wanted to want for my uncle, he was going to take me to a wonderful dinner. My hunger overpowered my desire to wait, so my mother bought some Chinese food from the grocery store for lunch. After returning home and devouring the Chinese food, I went outside to play. Because it was too hot to run around, I found my friends at the front of the neighbor’s yard picking flowers and eating them. I had never eaten a flower before, and I wondered why they were. They told me that it was a honey suckle they were eating. They said that there was sweet nectar inside the flower, and they showed me how to entice it out. I did not have to eat the flower, but instead suck the nectar out. I tried one and discovered the sweet taste that my friends told me about, and one by one I helped devour the honey suckle bush. After getting our fill, we turned our attentions to the next adventure. After what seemed like ages, he finally came. My uncle kept his promise. We ate at the Olive Garden, which I thought was a pretty fancy place and went to his house to watch a movie. We ate popcorn, drank soda and enjoyed the movie. When the movie was over, he made me a place to sleep on the floor with his sleeping bag and pillows and turned out the lights. This is when my wonderful day turned into a most terrible one.
I can’t remember if I fell asleep or if I laid there with my stomach turning, but suddenly green vomit made its way up and out, all over my uncles’ sleeping bag and pillows. I remember the awful green color, and the putrid smell. I was so mortified that I just sat there and cried. I suppose my sobs woke my uncle up and he came rushing out of his room. The moment he saw the green sick all over the place he began yelling, asking me why I didn't go to the bathroom. Not having children of his own, I suppose he did not know how to handle this type of situation, so he immediately called my mother. We both sat there, waiting, me crying and him fuming. Being the wonderful mother that she is, she did not over react to the green mess; she calmed me down as well as my uncle. She cleaned up, apologized to my uncle and took me home. The one chance I got to spend with my uncle, I ruined it. I was devastated. Why did I exorcist vomit all over his living room? Was it the Chinese food, the honey suckle or Olive Garden? Being older and wiser now, I understand that combining different foods leads to an upset stomach, but I did not understand that then and I blamed it all on the honey suckle. The pretty little flower that tasted so sweet ruined my wonderful night. From then on I associated that flower with green vomit, and never again would I go near it.
To this day if I smell a honey suckle whether it be the plant or a perfume made to smell like honey suckle, my stomach turns, I have horrible flash backs of the green vomit and I feel as though I could get sick. The honey suckle experience had such a negative impact on me that I do not think I will ever enjoy the smell, and frankly I am okay with that.
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