When life gives you lemons

When life gives you lemons…

Summer, what a time. Three months of sunbathing, pool swimming, and endless parties. Warm late-night adventures, romantic sunset dates, life simply feels happier right?

I hate it.

Hate is a strong word, and I’m an avid enemy of hyperboles.

So, let’s say, I think summer is overrated.

The world thinks summer is a watermelon, a barbecue, a potato salad, or whatever else you throw together in a picnic basket to go celebrate with your families.

I protest.

To me, summer is a lemon.

It’s deceiving, it fills you with hopes and dreams.

For goodness’ sake, it’s the sort of yellow that could bring a smile to the most miserable person’s face.

It illusions us with sweetness, happiness, and perfection.

A summer to remember.

One where we spend countless nights out on the beach with our friends, evenings with our lovers, or even afternoons with our loving families.

Perfect dreams for perfect families.

I ask you something, dearest reader.

How’s that phone looking?

How are TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat?

Did you know that we spend more time on our phones in the summer than any other season?

Sure, it’s to capture videos right?

To treasure the moment?

To create memories to look back on?

Think back to the last time you were at the beach, how many people actually seemed to be having a good time? Playing in the sand, or the ocean?

Maybe some, but God, I can guarantee you nearly all of you were on your phones.

What’s that? Is this feeling bitter?

Looks like we just took a bite into our lemon, and we realized it wasn’t what we thought it was.

Summer is beautiful to look at, but the experience is often one of disappointment.

It’s filled working a job we hate and being too tired to do anything we want with the people we love.

It’s being on our phones watching people live the lives we dream of to get some sort of dopamine rush we have no claim on.

It’s going to the beach, and realizing the water is too cold for us to even go in.

Sure some, people love summer, and some people love lemons.

They have it easy, no obligations, freedom to do as they wish.

But the rest of us?

Well,

When life gives you lemons…

We try and make them something more.

Ah, a plot twist, how creative.

Well, it’s not all miserable, I am an optimist you know.

That’s the thing about our funny little race we named humans.

We seem to have this belief that we always get a happy ending, and if it’s not happy, we know in our hearts, that it’s not the end.

Lemons are the food of summer.

They light up our lives.

They come with the expectation of deliciousness.

They bring us the bitter taste of reality.

And then we;

We the human race scream

"NO".

This is not what you will be.

We take these lemons, and we put them into cakes, and drinks, and soups, and whatever else you do with your lemons.

We tell them, you may not be delicious yet, but you will be.

We fill them with our blind, unwavering, unfathomable optimism.

We give them love, and hope, and my god is it beautiful.

So, I ask you, my dearest reader, can there be anything more iconic to summer than a lemon?

The one food that shows the bitter disappointment of summer not being what we wanted; and couples it with the sweet taste of taking a miserable situation and turning into it a memory to remember.

Still don’t believe me?

Well, what do you do when life gives you lemons?