Tag: tucson festival of books

When life gives you lemons…

The news wasn’t good. The the world we live in seems to be in a constant state of crisis these days. Facts mingled with falsehoods make it difficult to discern the truth. For many months, I’ve had my head in the sand. When I finally emerged, I found the sand was shifting beneath my feet.

Besides that, I’d just returned from a trip to Chicago to visit my mother. My family is facing some challenging days ahead.

I needed to take a walk and clear my head, reset my mind, try to find something, anything positive to focus on. Cue the weather. It was a beautiful February day in Arizona. Cobalt-blue sky (No, the above photo is not filtered…that is the actual sky color as seen from my backyard) with temps in the mid 60s.

When life gives you lemons…

The box was empty. I was glad someone had taken all the lemons. This is citrus season in Arizona, and the neighborhood trees are heavy with fruit. If the harvest isn’t picked, it falls to the ground and is wasted.

I’d just reached the neighborhood playground when a young, tousle-haired boy (about kindergarten age) came running up to me.

“Want some lemonade?” he shoved a green plastic cup towards me.

“Oh, well…I didn’t bring any money with me, ” I said.

“That’s OK! You can have it for free!”

I followed the boy to the shelter house where four other children were gathered around a picnic table set with a pitcher and more of the green cups. One of them held a makeshift sign fashioned from a piece of salvaged cardboard. “LEMONADE $1.00” was scrawled in thick black marker.

An older boy poured me a glass and it was delicious! I asked if they’d made it themselves.

“Yes!” a girl said. “We saw this box of lemons and they were free and we decided to make lemonade and we squeezed the lemons and put in some sugar and water and now we are selling it!”

“We saw a lot of people taking a walk and we thought it was kinda hot outside and people would be thirsty and would want some lemonade!” The older boy said.

“I’ll tell you what. This lemonade is so good, I’m going to finish my walk, then I’ll stop by my house, get some money and be back.” I said.

A Lemonade Moment

I finished my walk with a smile on my face. Back home, I got $5 and returned to the lemonade stand. “One dollar for each of you,” I said. “Wow! Thanks!” The older boy grinned and put the money in a plastic bag that had a few other bills in it. As I was leaving, the little guy I’d first met was running up to a woman checking her mailbox. “I don’t have any money with me,” I thought I heard her say. I’ll bet she goes in and gets some. How could she resist?

So here’s what I’ve decided. I’m going to find one thing each day that makes me smile and warms my heart, a lemonade moment, to help me remember to take time to replenish my mental, emotional, and physical energy. I’m going to need it, maybe we all are, for the days ahead.