Lemons or Lemonade

READY8 “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade then give it to your enemies cause it will taste nasty unless life gave you sugar too." ~ Anonymous

AIM8 Yesterday was a glorious day…ok, where’s that sarcasm font? Truthfully, yesterday started out to be an interesting day; I volunteered to be a chaperone at the zoo for my daughter’s last-day-of-kindergarten field trip. Needless to say, it started raining before the trip even began. So here we are, several anxious parents gathered underneath our over-sized umbrellas, with extra umbrellas and ponchos in hand, waiting to get our chaperone assignments. Finally, the children were sent to their respective parents and we were on our way to ‘enjoy the zoo’ in the rain. Seriously?! Why didn’t I bring rain boots or galoshes for myself and my daughter? Oh, that’s because I never bought rain boots or galoshes because how often do you really need those useless foot coverings? Ordinarily, on days like yesterday, the answer to going to the zoo would have been a big, fat NO WAY JOSE! So, I put on my best “I’m going to enjoy this experience” smile and off we went, umbrellas in hand. Truthfully, the first part of our journey was manageable. I even thought, for a moment, that it wasn’t too bad after all. Yeah, I thought too soon. As we continued around the zoo, the rain started coming down harder and harder. Yes, the puddles became like land mines in our paths and the animals looked about as excited as we were to be out in this inclement weather. And yet, we trudged on, smiles on faces, umbrellas in hand, shoes and socks getting more soaked with each step. We finally arrived back at the entrance to the zoo, and headed to the pavilion to enjoy our brown bag lunches. As we munched on our lunch treats, I realized that more than three-fourths of the parents and students had bailed on this glorious adventure. What a bummer for their kids! I mean, how often do you really let your children play in the rain? How many times are they going to have an end-of-the-kindergarten-year field trip and lunch at the zoo? I found my attitude turning around and realized that I was proud of myself and the other hard-core parents who stuck it out and endured the rainy adventure at the zoo. Yesterday is a day we and our children will remember for many years. We will talk and share endless stories about the day we walked in the rain at the zoo. All in all, I took many fun pictures of my daughter and her friends laughing and having a great time with their umbrellas and puddle-soaked shoes. I must admit, I may have not felt like making lemonade out of the lemons we were handed at the beginning of the field trip. However, I am so thankful that I checked my sourpuss attitude at the door and had a fun adventure anyway.

FIRE!8 When life hands you lemons, what do you do? Do you wallow in self pity and despair or do you set up a lemonade stand? Share your thoughts and I’ll post ‘em on my blog.


Be Excellent!
Lori