A Fourth of July Lemonade

It was a picturesque 4th of July. The sun was shining and the usual Cincinnati humidity decided not to show up for the party. Thank goodness! Right out front of my apartment I could see two young girls selling lemonade. Yep, this is America, I thought.

You feel guilty when you don’t buy lemonade from neighborhood kids. Well, at least you should. Seeing it always brings me back to my own lemonade sale days, only I’d be making about $100 per sale. I had a friend who would stand in the middle of the street stopping people as they drove by, refusing to let them pass until they bought something. She works is sales now… shocker, I know.

Despite the guilt I felt I jumped into my car without making a purchase. When I returned from my errands I saw my next door neighbor sitting on her porch enjoying the weather. Across the street the young girls stayed firmly planted at their stand. I walked over to the girls and purchased two lemonades.

I handed the lemonade to my neighbor and sat next to her on the porch. “Who are you?” she asked me. Jerry, my neighbor, is older and had forgotten meeting me a few weeks earlier. After getting reacquainted we continued to have a lovely conversation on her porch while sipping our lemonades.

When is the last time you chose to stop what you were doing to connect? I promise you you’ll feel more alive after you do.