What is it about the thrill of seeing a lemonade stand on the side of the road? It triggers those faint memories from long ago for many of us. Who doesn't love a good ol' fashioned lemonade stand with kiddos running the show? If you haven't a clue what I'm talking about then you may have missed out on one of the best childhood experiences of being a kid. Whenever I see a group of kids trying to sell lemonade, I can't help but think of my own childhood. Perhaps we should put a few lemonade stands in Washington then maybe there wouldn't be so many indiscretions now, would there? On this beautiful Sunday my little girl asked me if she could have a lemonade stand of her own. At first I was reluctant because there aren't many people who come down our end of the street, and creating this lemonade stand takes some time and a little bit of work. I didn't want to diminish their hopes, but at the same time I didn't want all their hard work to go unnoticed. While I like the privacy and safety of living in a culdesac; lemonade stands don't hardly stand a chance. Then I thought again about my oldest son and his lemonade stand adventures, not to mention my own childhood memories. Preparing the beverage of choice, gathering our friends around the street, purchasing treats from our neighborhood confectionary, creating the new price and feeling like we were going to strike it rich......all of it was good! How could I say "no" to her when it wasn't about the money or even the customers; rather, it's about the fun of it all and they DID! Oh, how much fun they had!
Just as I thought, the signs were created, lemonade was stirred, candy was found, a shoe box with change was given and there they were loving every minute of it! The neighbor girls, Sophia and Isabella, even encouraged Faith and Luke to let them help, and they would divy up the profits later. How clever! Luke was riding down the street on his bike with lemonade signs taped to his shirt and the boisterous girls were yelling, "Lemonade for sale...50 cents!" I made a call to my dependable dynamic duo, Susie and Cassie, informing them of our plans. I knew they wouldn't let me down. My neighbor called her sister as well. No one was beating down the stand, but there were a few other customers and our kids were having a blast! As I was planting my vegetable garden, I oversaw their activities. From the side of my house, I waved wildly to a car that I thought was my niece's car who had stopped at the front of our house. I was busy with my planting so I nonchalantly approached as the girls began to bring lemonade to the unfamiliar car. Oops, it wasn't my niece at all, and I had forgotten to tell them about the stranger rule. Luckily my neighbor was outside, too, and the stranger happened to be a nice young mom with her toddler who was cruising neighborhoods searching for a house to buy. I awkwardly laughed as I told her I thought she was someone else, but we had a friendly chat, and my little entrepreneurs were delighted. Someone actually stopped to buy a cup of their lemonade. I thought back to our lemonade stands in Glasgow Village where I was the youngest kid in the group, and my older brothers and sisters would make the rules, purchasing the sweets and naming the price. Neighborhood kids would join in with all the planning, and mom always enforcing the rules about never approaching strange cars......the customer had to come to our table. Nowadays that wouldn't keep a crazed person from snatching a child. Oh well, times have changed, but childhood lemonade stands never will.
Cassie, Susie, Lucy and Kyle finally made their way down to our special event, and all was good! Lucy embraced Faith's body like she was the best thing since sliced bread. Lucy felt like she was one of the gang just as I did so very long ago. One day, too, she'll play out this tradition and we'll celebrate life even if that means just sharing a cup of ice cold lemonade. As we shut down our stand for the day, Luke looked at me and said, "That was really fun, mom......that was a lot of fun!" The good mom moment was welcomed, saved and cherished......forever.
No matter what happens in life, some things never change and lemonade is one of them. Even when you're given lemons, we just make lemonade because lemonade stands are forever!
No comments:
Post a Comment