Blood Orange Punch

Early March. The factory had me on a Tuesday-Saturday this week with Sunday and Monday off. I had been feeling tired across the past two weeks, more than the four-thirty-AM-clock-in tired that has been the baseline. Sleeping ten hours a night. Heavy fatigue around three PM. Dustin asked me Tuesday at dinner if I was okay. I told him I might be coming down with something.

I am not coming down with something. I had picked up the test at the Memorial Drive Walgreens Friday afternoon on the drive home from the factory. I took it Friday night while Dustin was at his recovery-group meeting (Dustin has been going to the AA group at the same North Peoria church Cody goes to, as a small support-Cody gesture, since January). The result was positive.

I had not told Dustin Friday night. I had needed twenty-four hours alone with the information first. Saturday I sat at the apartment kitchen table for most of the morning with my coffee letting the information settle. Sunday I made blood orange punch because the kitchen needed a non-alcoholic celebration drink for an occasion I had not yet named out loud. Fresh blood orange juice from the small bag of oranges I had bought at the Memorial Drive Aldi Wednesday, sparkling water, a small splash of grenadine for color, fresh mint, ice. Three glasses Sunday afternoon. Dustin came home from his Sunday-afternoon HVAC-call at six. I told him at six-fifteen at the kitchen table. He cried first. Then I cried.

Dustin had a short week at the shop. The small auto-shop rhythm continues to be the small steady-income-source the small family-of-three-soon-to-be-three has built around. Bobby is reasonable. The shifts are predictable. The work is the work.

Aunt Linda came over Tuesday for the small two-hour visit. She held Brayden (or in earlier weeks, sat with me while I prepped). She brought a small Aunt-Linda-thing — a small handmade card, a small jar of preserves from her late-summer-garden, a small pressed-flower bookmark. The visits have become the small Tuesday-rhythm that has held the year together.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

4 cups blood orange juice, freshly squeezed (about 8–10 blood oranges)
2 cups cranberry juice, chilled
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
2 tablespoons honey or simple syrup, to taste
1 liter sparkling water or ginger ale, chilled
1 blood orange, thinly sliced, for garnish
1 cup ice
Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Juice the oranges. Halve and juice enough blood oranges to yield 4 cups of fresh juice. Strain out any seeds and set aside.
Combine the base. In a large punch bowl or pitcher, stir together the blood orange juice, cranberry juice, and lemon juice until combined.
Sweeten to taste. Add honey or simple syrup one tablespoon at a time, stirring and tasting until the punch reaches your preferred sweetness.
Add the sparkle. Just before serving, slowly pour in the sparkling water or ginger ale and stir gently to preserve the carbonation.
Garnish and serve. Add ice to the punch bowl, float blood orange slices on top, and tuck in a few sprigs of fresh mint if desired. Serve immediately in glasses or punch cups.

Nutrition (per serving)

Blood Orange Punch — A Celebration Drink for an Unnamed Occasion