When Life Gives you Lemons...

Make strawberry jam!


My grandma Jane had a little fabric wall hanging that hung in her kitchen when I was growing up. You've heard the quote before. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! I'm kind of a "lemon" person lately. Not much sweetness even though I'm probably composed of 86% sugar.

You know every once in a while when you feel like...crap? That's been me. I look like crap, I feel like crap, I'm lazy and depressed and tired and ornery. How fun is that? I think when Will is gone, I kind of take a downward spiral and it takes me a while to recover. Now I'm feeling really guilty for enjoying sleeping alone in the middle of the bed - it's not my fault that I got used to that.

Monday was the worst of it. I didn't even brush my teeth on Monday - who would be around to smell my breath anyway! It did make me feel bad that my kids noticed I hadn't showered or basically, done anything else but sleep all day. It's always a bad idea to have a bad day because the next day is jam packed with everything that you didn't do the day before as well as the regular daily things for that day.

And for anyone who is keeping count, I ate another box of chocolates since Will has been gone AND I found a Utah Truffle bar, long since hidden that was old enough to have white stuff on it, but not enough to deter me from eating it! Explanation of why I look like crap!

So last night, I thought that I would end my "lemony" attitude and make some yummy, more sugar than fruit, strawberry jam. I learned that the best way to end a sour attitude is to serve others. So I started the longer than I remembered task of making freezer jam to give away. I tried to forget about the pain in my shoulder from morning pump class while I was mashing the strawberries and my fissure-filled fingers being on fire as I stood over the stove and constantly stirred the pectin. Lemon.

I listened to the Pride and Prejudice music as I stirred and mashed and it reminded me of another lemon in my life. The 12+ years of piano lessons I took, that my parents paid for, that my parents PAID me to practice for that have resulted in me only being able to play about 7 hymns and Fur Elise and Jessica's Theme from Man from Snowy River. It's scary to think that I still have those last two songs memorized after...more than 25 years! How many times did I play through those songs? Lemon.

I love homemade strawberry jam. It reminds me of my Grandma Jane and my mom's homemade hot rolls. It's something that helps me to forget about myself and my woes and think of others and ways that I can serve them. Lemonade!