peeling an orange

I love to peel oranges, especially navel ones, because the skin is so thick and it makes that gratifying little sound, like...pffttt when you first pierce the skin and the orange mist spray gets all in your face. I had to study it for a while. Anyway, back to my point...
So, I decided I was going to peel my orange and try to keep the whole skin intact, not pulling off any pieces, just making a little opening, just enough to pull the orange out in a whole ball, but all the skin still intact. The skin is this perfect ball, just sitting there, like a husk. I can see the stamen sticking up through the center, it’s so beautiful.
The process was so meticulous in and of itself. I rolled the orange in my hand to loosen up the juices, I could feel them all pressing into the orange. Then I pierced the skin with my fingernail. I worked my finger into the orange and loosened all around the skin, breaking the little white veins that hold the fruit like a net. Then I just worked to move it out of the space I had created.
And now I'm admiring my orange peel ball. It feels a bit like a basketball, round, of course, but the surface is slightly bumpy and sorta...hmmm...smooth? Can something be both bumpy and smooth at once? The top of the bumps sorta feels smooth perhaps, making it feel like a second surface beneath my fingertips, which by the way have that sharply sweet tangy smell to them.

But this orange is...just like a woman, strong...full of mystery and wonder and complication; complete with a little baby, clinging to her side. Peeling oranges is an art, a celebration of citrus and of the wonder of life, the mysteries of womanhood, and of beauty in the oddest and most simple places.