Thursday, February 01, 2007

Making Lemonade And Dancing With Chloe

Hooray! It snowed last night. It wasn't much but it did cover my neighborhood like a thin white blanket.

All of my life I have heard the saying, "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade". If lemons represent the challenges of life, they may be the most readily available fruit for most people. In today's challenging world, life can often seem more sour than sweet. Most people can't eat a lemon straight like they would a fresh piece of ripened and sweet cantaloupe. Lemons are best used as a catalyst for other things like iced tea or baked fish with lemon butter. I think this saying is teaching us that most anything can be put to good purposes. Disappointments, frustrations, and things that are sour can be turned around or used to create some sweet. It is a rare person who goes through a day or a week or a month without some things that are not going their way. Disappointment and frustration are part of life and it is these challenges that test us and make us strong. When options are limited, we are compelled to be creative and make the most of our available resources. Remember that Tom Hanks movie called "Castaway"? I have sometimes imagined myself in his position. How resourceful would I be if I landed on a deserted island? Could I survive for a long period of time? I am not an outdoorsman although I love nature. Of course, Tom Hank's character wasn't an outdoorsman either. The question is this. How well can we do with our own wits and creativity when we need to move ahead without everything we think we must have to survive? Do we even know how to make lemonade?

My daily thoughts are written spontaneously in a stream of consciousness style of writing. 99% of the time I start with a simple thought and I have no idea where it will go. Some days I hit a home run and I actually produce something meaningful. Other days they are so so. I can rarely predict the impact on others. What I think is great gets little or no response. When I am not as happy with what I have written, someone else loves it. Go figure!

I want my granddaughter to grow up to be a woman of culture and sophistication. I try to help this along by introducing her to the classics. This past weekend it was a 1976 New Year's Eve concert by the Grateful Dead. We played maracas and I taught her air guitar. She can also dance the patented Deadhead "twirl". She insisted that I do it with her so we held hands and twirled in a circle until she was dizzy and I was having chest pains. We danced like no one was watching.

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