I Wouldn't Call It Lemonade

I am pretty sure if you are reading this, you know the saying - "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade."




When I was a child, I didn't like lemonade.

So, to me, making lemonade sounded like a really bad idea. Of course, I had no idea what the saying meant anyway.

By the time I understood the old cliche, I didn't like it at all. My life had turned not only into lemons, but more like a bad dream I couldn't escape. It seemed everything I did was never good enough.

I decided that my life had pulled a practical joke and filled those nasty lemons with smoke bombs, or something. But, whatever they were, I wouldn't call them lemons. I hated that saying with a passion.

Then I became really good at making "lemonade." I figured out how to serve the best side of me, so no one would ever suspect the volcano brewing inside.

I have been making pretty decent liquid lemonade, too. In fact, I have come to realize that lemons are actually useful. I use lemon juice in so many different ways, that I almost forget the symbol that they used to represent in my life.

Almost. (Or else I wouldn't be writing about it.)

When the volcano I have been holding in so long, erupted once again, I had to figure out what to do with those stupid lemons. I may be on the right road to recovery this time, and with enough support and research, perhaps I will stay on that road. I can only pray so.

Until I can fully embrace the flavor of "lemonade" I am meant to brew, 
I will be here, working on myself, to be the best version of me that I really am.

While you are waiting -
maybe you can find a way to use the lemons in your life as well.

In the meantime  - 
I am including a few of the ways that lemons are actually useful.
And you don't even have to eat them.

Unless you want to.

When I go to the store for lemons, I have made lemonade, but I also use it to clean my sinks and remove the gunk around the edges. Sometimes I use it to bleach a stain away.

In the other sense, "my lemons" are useful to get rid of the gunk in my life, and sometimes it helps to wash clean the stains of the past. It may take more than one scrubbing, but with time, patience, and many helpful people in my life - 

I might come to appreciate the taste of my own "lemonade."



Stories from the journey of my life
by: Sue Leerhoff
Brick by Brick