LEMONS INTO LEMONADE
Wanda Wade

(this is a re-post of one of my favorites)

What do you think about the old saying, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade?  Do you think it's something you could live by?  What point in your life does this apply? I thought about that as I sat across from my supervisor and manager as I was being handed my pink slip.  Surprisingly, at that moment I thought, here it is, my day to turn lemons into lemonade.  

Though I had never been laid-off from a job I always imagined I would feel frantic and uncertain about my future.  Not true, the exact opposite happened to me.  As I sat there being told they were "letting me go” it was the most clarity I’d had in a long time.  I had been asking myself for months what was it that I wanted to do with my life other than what I was already doing.  I didn't have to think long or hard about this, that part had always been clear to me.  My confusion was surrounded by how to make it happen and what series of steps would need to be taken.

Do understand, I had worked hard to get to where I was in my career.  I had even taken the leap of going back to school, had earned my degree and landed what I thought was the perfect job. Now there I was with an unsettling situation, yet I felt a sense of relief.

As my thoughts were whirling around in my head I could hear the faint voice of my supervisor in the background as he spoke words that sounded like they had been well rehearsed, "you're a good employee but...."  At some point I stopped listening and it all sounded like the distorted voice of the adult from the old Charlie Brown cartoons; wah, wah, wah, wah.  I'm not making light of the situation or mocking my supervisor for doing his job, but I felt like a burden had been lifted off my shoulders.  I would now be free to do what it was that I wanted to do.  He hadn't realized that he had done something for me that I don't think I would have done for myself, especially not at that juncture in my life.  

Yes, I'd had several thoughts about leaving but being a single parent, paying a mortgage, putting one kid through college while another was starting high school, far outweighed any ideas I had of a writing career. It was poetry in motion the way it had all been laid out and shifted in my favor.

Often throughout our lives we may find ourselves faced with situations that we believe to be happening at the wrong time and thus, leaving us unprepared.  Through my experience I realized that instead of trying to figure it all out and secure a full proof plan of my own sometimes it may be best to allow life to take its course and have faith in knowing that it will all work out as it should.

The next time you're faced with a lemon take a deep breath, collect your thoughts and be comforted in knowing that through your journey there's a far greater plan at work than you can imagine.

Until next time, reach for the stars and I’m sure you’re bound to catch one.

Be Pretty, Powerful, Prayerful – Be3P