My boys love to pick flowers and bring them to me, sometimes they put them up in my hair like a real island girl =) A vast variety of flowers grow in Tonga, many have medicinal value.
One day in Eua I was sitting outside with my boys and a bunch of neighbor kids, and they kept bringing me these gorgeouss pink flowers.
Isaac started climbing the bushes the flowers were growing on, and I overheard the kids chattering in Tongan that he shouldn't climb those trees because they're poisonous.
"Say what??!"
I quickly called Isaac over to me, and the children explained that some people don't even touch that tree because the flowers are deadly. After thoroughly washing my babies I asked the neighbor children "Why do you even plant these all over your yard?" And they replied, matter of factly, "Because they are beautiful."
"Now isn't that just like sin?" I asked 'Osi later. Sometimes we don't even want to touch it, while other times we let it grow all around us, if its beautiful, and just hope it won't poison us or our children.
Hmmm. Makes me wonder...what kinds of flowers are growing around my family? Are we flirting with anything poisonous?
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