When Life Gives You Lemons
So, 2020, it has not been a good year so far. You could say that life has given me lemons! That conjures up the old saying ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade’! Well, I take umbridge at this! This cheery little phrase is assuming a great deal. Let me explain...
Firstly, did you want lemonade in your life? Do you even like it? Doesn't the fizz go out of lemonade too, just like life can go flat? Also, why is there the expectation to make lemonade? Isn't that just an added pressure to the fact that you've been delivered a crate of lemons you didn't order to begin with?
I mean, it IS Summer and rather warm, so you can be forgiven for wanting a nice, refreshing drink. However, think it through: what if the promise of a cool, quenching lemonade turns into another colossal failure to add to the list of the 2020 woes? You see, I am NO good in the kitchen at the best of times and I am already stressed and cross about being given lemons anyway; it's not really conducive to making a nice lemonade. Why would I risk it? Frankly, I believe that a better use for the lemons would be chucking them really hard at the person/situation/thing that created the bitter fruit load of ammunition! At least then you may vent some frustration and could go and drink something far more satisfactory - like gin!
Here is more evidence....
The colour of the lemons. That bright, happy, sunshiney yellow. It's all a cover. Have you ever tried on a yellow dress or shirt? Yes! Exactly! You look ridiculous! Then there is the wrinkly skin with the gnarly bits on either end! Well, actually, to be fair, that does sound familiar to a lot of us I'm sure! Plus, lemons are so unfriendly. You only have to look beneath the surface and they spit in your eye! In addition, they have all that juicy promise and you end up again, as in life, disappointed, with just a tiny teaspoon of juice for all the effort of preparation, eye injuries, and squeezing. There is all that taking the pith too - nasty little buggers! Have you seen the face of anyone sucking on a lemon? It's like a baby chewing a wasp!
They aren’t much good then eh, do-gooders and hyper-positive members of society? So, to all those cheerful, ‘look for the good in the bad’, ‘happy go lucky’, ‘life is good, enjoy the little things’ irritating people, please do think before throwing out the old cliché of ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade’. Not all of us want to be anything other than bitter (and twisted sometimes) - at least for a while. Making lemonade, I think, has never solved a problem.
And DON'T even get me started on ‘life is a box of chocolates’!!
Written by Dawn Dingle
My name is Dawn, I am 48 years old and from South West England. I'm married with two grown up sons and I am also the proud owner of a gorgeous horse. I've always enjoyed writing and now I feel able to share some of it!