In the box

For my birthday this year Samantha bought me something completely unexpected.  Before the celebration she warned not to expect much from her because her purchases were on back-order, therefore when she handed me a wrapped box I was really surprised.  It was the last present to be opened and inside the plain cardboard box was a kit for growing bananas! I think it goes without saying that I was ecstatic. My mind quickly imagined a whole new world...one in which I could wake up in the morning and pick a banana from my very own home-grown banana tree. Samantha brought me back down to earth when she told me that my new tree would probably not actually grow fruit, however my zealousness was rejuvenated when I read the back of the box: "Banana tree can grow up to 6 feet in the first year!"  My overwhelming enthusiasm for this phenomenon was the polar opposite that of my mother, whose face had quickly contorted into a painful fake smile. "Where are you going to put that?" was her question.  But nothing so technical as where I would put a 6 foot tall banana tree was bothering me.  I was in my own personal tropical paradise, hand delivered to my northeastern Ohio residence, in the middle of winter. Nothing could be better than that.

Banana Fact:  According to the Banana Bonanza growing kit by DuneCraft, "the banana is not actually a tree, but the world's largest herb."