When Are You Ripe?

"Mom, when do you think I'm most ripe?" Child #1 asked me last weekend. 

"I guess that depends on what you mean by ripe."

"You know, like if I were a berry, when would you want to pick me and eat me.  What's my best season?" 

We determined her best season is summer, when she can swim to her heart's content.  And then, working backwards we decided she's almost ripe in the fall, in flower in the winter but spring is Child # 1's winter.  In spring, she turns into a cold, frozen, leafless branch waiting for school to get out and the sun--the precious Oregon summer sun!

Then, because it was fun, we spent half an hour figuring out when everyone else is in season.

"You're ripest right now," she told me.  "Because Losing Beauty is being published.  And Child #2 is in season every time he has a play date."  Grandma, it turns out, is ripe when she's making her world-famous, award-winning pie and Daddy is ripest during autumn when he can watch the Giants play football, scheme about the best trick-or-treat candy maximizing strategy and eat pumpkin pie.

Okay, so I admit it, it was on the tip of my tongue to add that Daddy is also pretty ripe after he comes back from playing basketball, but somehow I resisted.  The word may be funny, but it doesn't prevent me from being enchanted with the concept....so, blogosphere, now that the days are getting shorter and the nights colder, tell me, when are you in season?