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There was only a single day in my childhood that I had a lemonade stand. My brother and I had thought it was a great idea. No one dissuaded us. Our Mom probably loved that we were out of her hair for almost the entire day. All it cost her was a single pitcher of lemonade.
We drug the card table out on the lawn and set our two folding chairs around it. We had cups, and ice, and a hand-made sign drawn with markers on poster board. It was hot. Very hot. We were going to be rich.
Our older sister was not interested in our business venture. She was old enough to know what we didn't. Well, maybe we knew, but we didn't want to admit it. Instead, we hoped that our proximity to the reservoir, a local boating and fishing hotspot would provide us with customers. The problem was, our house was about 3 miles further up the road than the loading dock and a full mile past where the reservoir ended.
As far as locations go, ours was not ideal. We sold lemonade 8.3 miles from the center of our small town, along a windy country road that (in those days) seldom saw traffic. After my brother and I exchanged quarters, we each took a glass of lemonade. We watched the cars: there were three of them that went by that entire day. Not one stopped.
Still, we watched the road with hopefulness, swishing our bare feet just above the clipped grass. We sold (or failed to sell) lemonade for most of the day. It was a failed endeavor from the start, but I loved that no one told us we couldn't try.
6 comments:
Love this story. I remember my money making schemes from childhood. I once drew artwork and hung it up at my Dad's business to sell. I didn't sell any. Thanks for visiting my blog. I enjoyed your story.
What a wonderful memory. Tonight seems to be the night of memories for you and me.
I see lemonade stands now and say, "Oh look, Phil, kids selling lemonade," which really means, "stop and buy some," but he thinks it means, "Oh look, kids selling lemonade." I should be more specific. I wish somoene had been more specific in one of those three cars that passed by your lemonade stand.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I love your story about the lemonade stand, it made me think..next time my daughter asks, I will not tell her "No". Thank you for opening my eyes.
I love the last line - it's so important to encourage one another to give "it" a try, you never know what will happen.
I'm glad you found my blog, because I love yours! You are such a gifted writer. I remember doing this exact same thing with my brother, the sad thing was that we were always on a busy road and many more people would wave to us instead of stopping to buy from us. I make it a point to stop at all lemonade stands that I see.
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