The Lemonade Stand

I was surprised, earlier in the week, when I returned home on evening (I started back to school this week) to find a line (well actually only 2) cars occupy my parking spot in front of the house. As I drove past the house, looking for a place to park, I also noticed a couple of neighbors standing in my front yard. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why so many people we in front of my house and I have to admit, my first thought was that something was wrong, something had happened to my wife (who took the week off of work to stay home with the kids) or my children. As the flutter of butterfly wings started beating in my stomach, I spotted the reason for the conglomeration of people in my year: the lemonade stand.

As I got out of the car, I was immediately assaulted with the sales pitch. I could get a small glass of lemonade for a quarter or a large glass for 50 cents. I didn’t get a “hello”, a “how was your day?” or even a “we missed you.” All I got was the sales pitch from my oldest son. I had to smile when my wife reminded the kids that “Your Dad gets to drink for free,” and all the kids groaned.

As I grabbed my glass of lemonade, I was reminded of my own childhood and all the neighborhood lemonade stands I “opened” with my brother and sisters. Although our stands were never all that successful, I do remember the satisfaction I got when we made a sale and how empowered I left “earning my own money.”

Now, I haven’t “opened” a lemonade stand in a couple of decades, but I have to say that my kids did it right, with my wife’s help of course. They had the stand set up in front of the house, with the lemonade ice cold, and plenty of cups. They had also made signs and when standing at the street corner, flagging down the cross traffic, and they were persistent. In a little over an hour, they made $8.50, which is pretty good considering they were selling cups for a quarter.

As we packed up the lemonade stand before running off to soccer practice, I could tell that my kids were proud of the job they had done. I was proud of them too. So often, we get so busy living our lives and run from activity to activity that we don’t take the time to spend time outside, with a glass of lemonade. I think it was one of those special summer moments that all kids should experience because no childhood is truly complete until they have “opened” a lemonade stand.