When Life Hands You Lemons
Lynnae at Being Frugal has tagged me with an interesting meme. I get to share with you a story of a time in my life when I have made the lemons life’s handed me into lemonade. I have had a lot of these types of situations in my life, but this is by far my favorite and most uplifting of them all. I’ll also tag 6 more bloggers to share their stories and please, if you have a story-share!
“Everything happens for a reason” -My grandmother’s favorite saying or at least her favorite thing to say to me when I was feeling blue. It was always her way of telling me to look on the bright side; that things aren’t always as they seem and that even in bad times, good may be lurking just around the corner.
I’ll never forget the last time she said this to me. It was the day she told me she had Alzheimer’s Disease. I truly could not find any reason on Earth that would make this worth happening. I was losing my grandmother (my hero, my best friend and often times, my partner in crime) to a disease that was stealing her mind. The “everything happens for a reason” line wasn’t working for me. In fact, it made no sense to me until years later.
After the initial shock wore off, I realized that my grandmother had so much more to share with me, she had so many things stored in her mind that I couldn’t stand the thought of losing and there were so many things she had left to do and see in her lifetime. I was motivated to do all I could to rescue those precious memories and make all those last wishes come true. At the tender and rather bratty age of 19 I took to recording it all. I went through thousands of pictures with her, carefully detailing who/what/when/where/how/why and put together enough scrapbooks to fill an entire closet. I filled them with her stories, recipes, photos, letters; every piece of information I could get went into those books. Not only did preserving her memories make me feel good that all would not be lost, but she loved every second of it. After all, I was her favorite. *wink*
After I felt that I had preserved what could be preserved and once her memory was obviously going, I knew I had to act fast on those wishes. One of which was to see me get married. No, I didn’t run out and grab the first guy I saw and haul him down to the courthouse, but by this time I was 22 years old and very much in love. That was only a matter of time, so I went about other wishes. I enlisted the help of other family members and she got to take a few trips she always wanted to take, she got to see Tony Bennett and Johnny Cash in concert and she was able to enjoy the company of her loving family while she still knew our names. Then it happened, that handsome guy I had fallen in love with proposed, I said yes and the rest is history. My grandmother got to see me on my wedding day, in fact she walked me down the aisle.
I realize now that if she had not been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, I may have never been prompted to collect her stories, or take her to see Johnny Cash in concert or spent that much time just hanging out with “Gram”. I am thankful everyday for those few years we had before she left us and so happy she was there on my wedding day. While, I wish she had never gotten the Alzheimer’s, I know that I can be thankful for those few years, because I know they were some of the best years of her life. What began as a horrible turn of events (life handed me lemons) became a wonderful time in my life and my grandmothers (I made lemonade)Everything happens for a reason.
What about you? Do you have a story of life handing you lemons? I’d love to hear it!
LIFE GAVE ME SOME LEMONS
- IT’S OK, I MADE DELICIOUS LEMONADE - MEME
Rules:
* Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
* Link back to person who tagged you.
* Write about an incident in your life you first thought was really bad, but ended up being a blessing.
* Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
* Let each person you tagged know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
(* And if you want to - link back to this original Lemonade Meme post too.)
Who I’m Tagging:
Kyle at Rather-Be-Shopping
1Stop Mom at My Debt Blog
Kim at Jogging in Circles
Kimberley at My Good Cents
Tara at Super Mom Saves Money
Kena at Deal Seeking Diva
Topics: Life & Family |
April 25th, 2008
Thanks for sharing that story with your readers. Alzheimer’s is an insidious disease and I hope to live to see a cure one day. You are correct in that the stories and events you shared with your grandmother may have not occurred with such urgency were it not for the diagnosis. We could all take a lesson to better appreciate our family memembers. Life is precious, and we never know when they may be taken from us without advanced warning.
April 25th, 2008
Frugal Dad-One thing I pay very close attention to is the progress being made towards a cure for Alzheimer’s, I do believe one day there will be one and that brings me some peace. I will always be grateful for the time I spent with my grandmother and I hope others can learn from my story and think about spending just a little more time with their loved ones. Life is way too shortand memories way too precious to be taken for granted.
April 25th, 2008
That is a beautiful story! Thank you so much for sharing
April 25th, 2008
Bad Form making me cry like that at my desk at work. That’ll teach me to be blogging from here
Thank you for sharing this story. It was beautiful.
April 25th, 2008
Great story & very cool MeMe. You didn’t tag me, but I’m going to play along anyway!!
April 25th, 2008
Oh my goodness. Your story brought tears to my eyes.
April 25th, 2008
What a lovely, lovely story. Thank you for sharing it.
April 25th, 2008
What a great story…
I read this in my reader and didn’t even notice my name at the bottom… thank goodness for technorati :).
I look forward to doing this over the weekend.. thanks for the tag!
April 25th, 2008
Kimberly-I can’t wait to hear your story!
April 25th, 2008
BeThisWay-I am glad you liked it, it’s one of those things that looking back was a “silver lining” that I didn’t even see at the time.
April 25th, 2008
castocreations-Oh gee, you sound like me…I am a crier
I am thrilled you enjoyed my story and hope others do as well.
April 25th, 2008
Please play along! Anyone who wants to join in is more than welcome too. After you post your story-please send me a link and I will add you to my post!
And sorry Amanda and anyone else that would have liked to be tagged-I never know who wants to be tagged or not*blush*
April 25th, 2008
Momma-sorry to make you cry, but a good cry here and there can be mighty good for you
Blogging at work? Well, what else are you gonna do at work? LOL
April 25th, 2008
Becky- I am glad you enjoyed it
April 25th, 2008
Keep your chin up, it will be better tomorrow.
April 26th, 2008
Thank you so much for doing the Lemonade Meme! I had almost similar experience w/ my grandmother. she also had Alzheimers and she wrote a book of her memories for years. It actually helped her to stay home for longer, and she remembered things from past better than from previous week. It’s a tough illness to see someone go through
And I so agree with you - everything does happen for a reason!
April 26th, 2008
[...] Meme Apr.26, 2008 in Random Leftovers I was tagged by Mommy Gets Paid to carry on the Lemonade [...]
April 28th, 2008
LJ.. what a beautiful story. and your so right about what if she never got the illness. I am sorry you had to go through this, but your post made me tear..
xox
Thanks for the tag.. I will start working on it..
April 28th, 2008
Wow, what a moving story. I can so relate to the way to early loss of a special grandparent. That kind of loss is very very painful. Congrats on the move, your right, you will thank your self once you feel that amazing feeling of accomplishment for being a “do it yourselfer”. When we moved, we did the same thing. We got dirty, and had headaches galore, but now 7 years at our house and knowing that we put our personal touch to it, is a great feeling. Keep up the great work, and make sure that every day you drink up that LEMONADE.
April 29th, 2008
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May 1st, 2008
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