On Halloween a teenager walked up to me, handed me a lemon, and walked away. Draped across her was a plain cloth bag with the word: Life. And to clarify, no, this was not a hallucination, this was real life.
Fortunately the lemon was in actuality a femon (pronounced like lemon, of course)- an imposter, a fake. I say that because I have been holding it hostage in my bag since. Maybe I haven’t taken it out of my bag due to the fact that I’m a total slob who has way too many purses all littered with similar junk: pens, chapstick, a rogue dollar, receipts from 2011, a tampon just in case a stranger needs one- I know that sounds weird, but I’m all about paying it forward. Any lady in need would totally respect this, don’t judge. So today, as I was cleaning out my bag, there it was, nestled at the very bottom. Not forgotten, just kept safe.
I love that femon- everytime I look at it I’m reminded that not every day is picturesque, not every moment turns out exactly as we expected it to, sometimes we get a cold in January that throws our whole schedule off- like I did last week. As I moped around, angry because running was not in the agenda, I struggled to find the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m dying I whimpered from under a pile of blankets. It turns out I didn’t die, I’m still here! And though I couldn’t run all last week I tried to make the best of a bad situation. I danced while I cleaned, I did low impact exercises, I ate well balanced meals, and I drank a ton of water. I woke up by Sunday more refreshed, Monday back to my usual self, and today I’m ready to run.
Here’s to health. When life hands you lemons make a concoction full of vitamin C and ward off any possible colds. If you catch one don’t panic, just take it easy and use the lemon in your tea.
And here are 9 Awesome Facts About Lemons You Should Know (click me!)
52 Miles per Month 
That is totally awesome and I can see why you held onto it!
I was like- what a profound teenager!
Today I left it on my co-workers desk with a note: Happy Tuesday 🙂
Reblogged this on Passionate Dreaming and commented:
This is how I need to start approaching life.
Glad you’re feeling better…..and glad you took the teenagers advice!!!
What a wonderful costume/idea! It’s nice to get a visual reminder of that line of thinking. I try to practice that, but it’s hard to remember during particularly trying times.
Truth! That’s why I appreciated finding it in my bag this morning! We can’t be perfectly positive people all of the time either. Let’s be real here! I’m willing to admit that my line of thinking can stray from sunshine and rainbows, but I’m human 🙂 we all just need a gentle reminder sometimes!
LOL, I love this post. I’ve heard of the whole Life costume/lemons thing before, but never heard of anyone actually ever running across these people. That’s pretty cool.
I never thought to be that creative until this girl! I was like… you are an effin genius. As I’m wearing cat ears… Actually, my costume was pretty fun. Not that clever 🙂
Awesome story and great post!
Thanks! I too love blogging and beer… and running- I guess. Not as much as the other too 🙂
Haha I hear ya on that! 2.5 out of 3 is pretty darn solid though 🙂