What do you do when God gives you an eight pound lemon? Do you cry? Do you try to ignore it and pretend it's not there? Or do you figure out a way to make lemonade? I know people all over the world who are searching for answers. This is my eight pound lemonade story...
At the beginning of last month, my daughter sent me a distressful text from the airport. The ticket agent at the counter scolded her for exceeding the weight limit by eight pounds. Her debit card only had enough money to pay the sixty dollar fee for two suitcases. The airline hit her with a one hundred dollar penalty and she was overdrawn. Since this was her first time traveling alone and she was going on limited sleep, she didn't know what to do. The agent rushed her through check in and did not offer any alternatives, such as moving the eight pounds of excess weight into the second suitcase, or just removing eight pounds of stuff and discarding it. Instead, he put her into crisis mode.
The following day I reached out to the airlines. They didn't budge and told me I was stuck with the penalty charge for the eight pound lemon. My daughter's bank was more understanding. Unfortunately, their closest branch to make a deposit was one hundred miles away from our new Iowa home. The next morning I drove to Moline, Illinois and deposited enough money to cover the shortage. On the way back, I stopped by to inquire about a marketing position at the newest employer moving in to Coralville in the the Iowa City area. I met Alicia, an enthusiastic employee who shared how excited she was to be part of opening a new store. She encouraged me to apply immediately.
The next morning, I got a phone call. Suddenly, the eight pound lemon was becoming the best lemonade I've ever tasted. I'm part of the launch team now, thanks to meeting Alicia on my way home from my two hundred mile round trip to my daughter's bank to resolve the lemon in my life. In the last thirty days, I've met the mayor of Coralville, the fire chief, and a few hundred business owners and employees who are excited about my new employer. This lemonade is the best lemonade I've ever tasted. I will be drinking this lemonade for the rest of my life, thanking God everyday for the eight pound lemon he gave me less than thirty days ago. That's my lemonade story. What's yours? Please share your story below.
My story involves totally burning out physically, mentally and spiritually and quitting my job as a result to deal with that burnout. Turns out, the digestive issues and adrenal fatigue were being caused by and undiagnosed food allergy, probbably existing since childhood and causing several intolerances, and all of this caused a host of physical and mental problems. Oh yeah, we were adopting a 9-year-old boy at that time too. Really bad time mentally, physically and emotionally for me. Now, 2 1/2 years later, I am writing a lot and thankful that I had the extra time at home with my son, especially during the summers, to help make up for so much of his rough 9-year start to life. We are doing well now, he is almost caught up, my writing career is taking off, and my marriage is better than ever. What I first thought was just a huge inconvenience turned out instead to be a huge blessing.
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