My mantra “Look for the sunshine” is an abbreviation for “When life gives you lemons, Look for the sunshine…because lemons only grow in the sun.” This hails from something I overheard a sweet, elderly neighbor say when I was a child growing up in West Virginia. I loved it so much and I didn’t forget it. She said, “When life gives me lemons, make lemonade”. About 15 years ago, a sweet friend used a similar statement, “When life gives you lemons, look for the sunshine.” Both of these incredible women deserve the credit and my eternal gratitude for helping me to remember to look for and find positivity in adversity always.
I went through a rough patch for several years…it seemed that “looking” didn’t always mean “finding” the sunshine while enduring a particularly crap-filled lemon storm. But, I had a revelation and began to think like a little kid…Easter eggs aren’t just lying around on the ground…I had to hunt for them. My buddy isn’t just standing in plain site during a rousing game of hide-and-seek. Rather, I have to “SEEK” and “FIND”. Both of these examples evoke visions of working hard in the form of opening doors, looking in dark places, moving to a different place, and sometimes reaching out to grab it. After this light bulb moment, I decided to force myself (and work) to find the sunshine in the myriad of life-lesson lemon crap storms that were assaulting me.
After a while, I didn’t have to work as hard to find the sunshine. I became conditioned to find the promise (sunshine) in almost any situation. I was better able to cope with lemon storms by having a positive outlook even as it was raining yellow. Thus, my mantra was born. In this process, I realized that the steps “seek & find” were the secret to success in anything (but that’s another blog for another day because it’s a little too deep and this is a bright and sunshiny topic today!).
So, relating my sunshine mantra to a KidAble LIFE!!! and today’s topic…Lemon-day Picnics. When they are small, our wee ones can find abject joy in the simple things…like a picnic in the middle of the family room floor for absolutely no reason, but most especially when they have had a lemon-storm (crappy) day. I remember after we moved to a new home that was far away from the old one. Nobody had any friends so we instituted lemon-day picnics every Friday night. The timing was great because our picnic coincided with a PBS showing of the the New York ballet. My wee ones loved the ballet and so we would sit in the dark, eat our picnic, and watch and discuss the ballet, the costumes, the sets. Usually, at least one of the wee ones ended up dancing which would cause peals of laughter. This always opened up dialogue about their day, their week, their challenges. As a family, we turned lots of lemon storms into lemonade at these picnics.
Well, my youngest baby is now twenty-something and we still have lemon-day picnics on the floor, though not as frequently. In fact, we had a friend over for dinner not too long ago and decided he needed a pick-me-up, lemon-day picnic (because he was having a rough time)…so that’s what we did.
We tossed a blanket on the floor, made homemade lemonade, some goofy sandwiches, a peach upside down cake and trifle in a jar (they’re sitting on the blue cooler in the picture). We took off our shoes, sat on pillows on the floor and had a blast as my baby re-told story after story about our lemon-day picnics she remembered from growing up.
The sunshine mantra has served and continues to serve my family and me well, and I share it with you; make it yours too if you want. Become a force for good, for positivity in the lives of your wee ones. Help them learn to “seek & find”. Together, we can improve ourselves, our families, our communities, and gee-wouldn’t-it-be-great, the world.
Thanks for reading. Hope this brought you a smile and, as always,
Vicki
PS – You can find the recipe for the Peach Upside Down Cake (which is paleo and gluten free) on the Battinburg Cakes blog or through BattinburgCakes.com.
A Kidable Life 