Watermelon Lime Mocktails

My week with the kids. Father's Day was Sunday. The kids made me cards at Brianna's house — Aiden drew a picture of me with a chef's hat (I do not own a chef's hat) holding a spatula. Zaria wrote "World's Best Daddy" in glitter glue that came off the page like sand. I taped both cards to the refrigerator next to Pop's birthday card from March. The fridge is becoming a shrine.

I'd booked the Father's Day catering for Vanessa — two smoked chickens, a pan of mac and cheese, a pan of baked beans, two dozen biscuits. She picked it up at 11 Sunday. Paid me one-eighty. I hugged her in the driveway. She said, "DeShawn, you're going to have to figure out how to scale this." I said I was working on it.

Then I drove to Mama's with the kids for Father's Day dinner with Pop. Cheryl had made everything Pop loved — smothered pork chops, mac and cheese, greens, cornbread. Pop sat at the head of the table for the first time in a couple months. He led grace. He said, "Lord, thank you for this food, thank you for these grandbabies, thank you for keeping us together." His voice cracked a little. Nobody mentioned it. Cheryl reached over and squeezed his hand.

I gave Pop a card I'd written by hand. "Pop, you taught me everything I know about being a man. I'm trying to teach my kids the same way. Thank you. Your son, DeShawn." He read it at the table. He put it down. He said, "DeShawn, you're a good son." Then he went back to eating his pork chops.

Aiden gave Pop a drawing of a Tigers pitcher. Zaria gave Pop a small flowerpot she'd painted at school. Pop kept both. We all left full and quiet and grateful.

Monday back at the plant. Wednesday the kids and I went to Belle Isle again. We ate hot dogs from the picnic basket. Friday I caught a TV piece on the Detroit Free Press's food section. They'd run a feature about the city's barbecue scene. Three places highlighted. Two on the east side. None on the west side. None in the Livernois corridor. The seed in my chest got heavier. Detroit barbecue is a thing. The Livernois corridor needs one. Maybe me. Someday. Not yet.

Pop led grace and his voice cracked, and nobody said anything, and that was exactly right — some moments you just let sit. I kept thinking about that on the drive home, the kids knocked out in the back seat, and I wished we’d had something in our hands to raise when he finished. Not anything heavy. Just something cold and sweet and made with a little care. These Watermelon Lime Mocktails are what I’ll bring next time — bright enough for the kids, pretty enough for the table, and the kind of thing you can hold up and say thank you without needing any words.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 15 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

6 cups seedless watermelon, cubed (about 1/2 small watermelon)
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (about 4–5 limes)
2 tablespoons honey or agave syrup, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
2 cups sparkling water or club soda, chilled
Ice, for serving
Lime slices and fresh mint, for garnish

Instructions

Blend the watermelon. Add cubed watermelon to a blender and blend on high until completely smooth, about 30 seconds. You should have roughly 3 cups of juice.
Strain. Pour the blended watermelon through a fine mesh strainer into a large pitcher, pressing with a spoon to extract all the juice. Discard the pulp.
Season and sweeten. Stir in the fresh lime juice, honey or agave, and salt. Taste and adjust sweetness — add more honey if your watermelon isn’t very sweet, or more lime if you want more brightness.
Chill. Refrigerate the watermelon-lime base until ready to serve, up to 24 hours ahead.
Serve. Fill glasses with ice. Pour the watermelon base about 2/3 full, then top each glass with sparkling water. Stir gently. Garnish with a lime slice and a sprig of fresh mint.

Nutrition (per serving)

Watermelon Lime Mocktails — The Toast We Didn’t Know We Needed