Lemons

There are so many cliché phrases about fruit.
“Life is not a bowl full of cherries.” (my Mom’s favorite when I was a kid)
“ Nobody likes a sour grape.”
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
“When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.”

I think the problem is that I much prefer to cherries to lemonade.
In fact, I so destested lemons as a young child that my parents used to hand me lemon wedges and encourage me to eat them just so they could laugh hysterically at the awful, puckered faces I would make (true story!) I then went on to name lemons “yucks” and called them that for years.
“Lemon” is also the word we use for a car that is sort of broken from the start…a dud. Most states have Lemon Laws, in order to protect buyers against unknowingly purchasing a lemon.

Unfortunately, I think I may have gotten a “lemon” body.

At every turn it is failing me. In fact, it actually began failing me at age 6 when I became very sick with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (now I think they call it Still’s Disease, but same thing). At first no one could figure out what was wrong. They thought leukemia, and a host of other things. I ran high fevers constantly, my lymph nodes and spleen were swollen, as were most of my joints. I was in a lot of pain most days, which is partly why I believe my pain tolerance is higher than most. It feels as though I have spent much of my life managing some sort of physical pain.

So I am stuck behind the wheel of this “lemon” with no way to trade it in! It is completely unfair and some days all I want to do is scream and throw things. Most days I remind myself that others out there are living in “lemon” bodies too, and I am not alone in that. We just have to try and the make the best of what we have, to “keep on keepin’ on” as my Granddaddy says, and to still find ways to live out dreams, even if they are a little soured.