lemons

So you think it is just an ordinary day.  Students heading back and forth from school to auditorium to practice for the big Spring concert.  And then it starts to rain.  I grab my keys and start to shuttle students back and forth so they don't get soaked.  I'm almost done when the last student realizes he forgot his music.  He jumps back in and I put the car in reverse and spin back around.  And then CRUNCH.  There is a horrible sound.  I stop.  And crane my neck  to see the previously invisible light pole on a cement base.  How bad can it be?  I was only going about 3 miles an hour.  The student jumps out to look.  "Oh, it's bad." he says shaking his head.

And it was bad.  My 6 month old, perfect blue car had a huge, deep dent. My passenger door wouldn't open.  I was sick.

There was nothing to do but fix it.  I made three phone calls.  I drove thirty minutes to have the car inspected and made an appointment to get fixed.  Then I had it inspected by my insurance for a quote.  Then I reserved a rental car.  Then I drove 30 minutes back to leave my car for 4 days.  Then I waited.  So much wasted time, energy spent, hundreds of dollars out of pocket, all for a stupid mistake.  I just couldn't shake the angry, uselessness of it.
The day I picked up my fixed car I made a quick Target run.  Walking past the kitchen aisle, a bright yellow ceramic lemon caught my eye.  It was on clearance for $3.00.

In the early 1900's someone coined a phrase "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  According to wikipedia this phrase is "used to encourage optimism and a can-do attitude in the face of adversity or misfortune. Lemons suggest bitterness, while lemonade is a sweet drink."

I love this 1940 poem called The Optimist.
"Life handed him a lemon,
As Life sometimes will do.
His friends looked on in pity,
Assuming he was through.
They came upon him later,
Reclining in the shade
In calm contentment, drinking
A glass of lemonade."

I bought that Target lemon.  I carried it to my pretty-again car and decided to be thankful for people who fix dents.  Now it is on my desk.  It's shiny, happy yellow reminds me that life will always have purposeless challenges and unplanned bumps.  My dog will have fleas, students will have unhappy parents, my favorite blouse will get stained, and occasionally I will dent something big.  But I will always have the choice of growing bitter, or plowing through with "calm contentment".  It's all about making lemonade.