When I lived with my parents in a small village in Gia Lam District (now Long Bien), we had a lime plant by the pond. Lime trees need quite a lot water to grow up and be happy. So the location by the pond was ideal for our tree. It was very big with plenty of green leaves. And when it blossomed, the flowers were tiny, white and sweet smelling. Lime flowers are so simple, not so luxurious or colourful as other kinds of flowers. Women in the countryside are compared to lime flowers: nice and simple and modest. Hope I belong to this type of women :-).When I got married and lived on the top/fifth floor of a building in the city. I wanted to have a lime plant. My father bought for me a lime plant, and I put it in a big pot. Nice plant: green and large leaves, and it even produced fruits. I liked it very much.
Now life has changed. No lime plant by the pond anymore. Part of my parents' land was sold. I do not live on the fifth floor floor anymore. I could not take the plant with me when moving out. It is too big and the pot is too heavy to carry. My father passed away ... When I decided to have my 'babylon garden', the first plant I thought I would buy was a lime plant. It is growing well here and is going to blossom soon. It seems that I am good at growing plants. (My fate is water according to Chinese astrology and plants are wood. Water is good for wood. That is why I have a nice garden on the balcony :-)
Last Sunday, I went to a wedding in a village in Thai Nguyen. There I saw flowers of a grapefruit tree. They reminded me very much of my father. He planted grapefruit trees in our garden, long time ago...
I realize that I still miss the time I lived in the village. And I still have something modest. Life in the city changes me a bit. Deep in my heart I am always a woman from the countryside and I wish to carry that part of me to the end of my life.
