My mother used to say this every once in a while when I complained about something I didn’t like. As a child, I always thought it meant to go open a lemonade stand on the corner. I tended to frown at her heavily when she said it. We lived mostly on Army bases, so this wasn’t really an option.
As an adult, I attributed it to mean an ability to turn something sour into something sweet. …but then came Country Time and Crystal Lite. The whole convenience of making lemonade without lemons sort of lost itself for a while.
In retrospect, I love sour things. SweetTarts are a favorite of mine (although my girls can top me by surviving a package of Atomic Warheads!). In elementary school, I would cut lemons, sprinkle sugar over them and just eat them like oranges until my mother told me this practice would eat the enamel off my teeth. I don’t know if it does or if she was just tired of always running out of lemons for her tea.
Regardless, I consider my writing to be just that… turning something sour into something sweet and, in this case, something new. I’m re-inventing myself… AGAIN. Out of many failures comes success!
I’m about to retire from my day job in Information Technology. I was looking forward to retiring, playing golf, enjoying the time I have left. Two years ago, I packed up and sold my home in St. Louis, Missouri and moved home to Arkansas for a bit. I wanted to regroup, reconnect and lessen my responsibilities.
I also, unfortunately, left half my paycheck in Missouri.* So now my Social Security isn’t going to be quite what I expected = No travel for me, which is the second saddest thing I’ve ever heard. (One day I may tell you about the first.)
My answer to all of this is to make lemonade. I need a supplemental income in my elderly years so I can see beautiful buildings, art, and gardens. Maybe afford Hospice if I eventually need it. I tried Photography but I had NO idea how physically hard that was going to be and all those hours and hours for so little pay. (You need to pay your photographers people!)
Writing, however, has always been a joy and something I’ve been good at since Seventh Grade English, Mrs. Schaffer (Southwood High School, Shreveport, Louisiana). She was the best!
I’ve written for newspapers, web sites, technical documents, how to’s, letters, marketing campaigns, newsletters… the list goes on and on. Now, I’m writing for joy and profit.
I’m making lemonade out of lemons, and I invite you to come along for the ride.
BTW – where did that expression come from? According to Wikipedia, Elbert Hubbard used it in an obituary he wrote for dwarf actor Marshall Pinckney Wilder. Here is the quote:
“He was a walking refutation of that dogmatic statement, Mens sana in corpore sano. His was a sound mind in an unsound body. He proved the eternal paradox of things. He cashed in on his disabilities. He picked up the lemons that Fate had sent him and started a lemonade-stand.”
Elbert Hubbard, 1915
*Thank you Tish for the use of that expression!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_life_gives_you_lemons,_make_lemonade