When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade

Posted by Lynnae on April 24, 2008

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When life gives you lemons, what do you do?

Last week Katja of Skimbaco tagged me for the Lemonade meme. I don’t do a lot of memes here, but since I try to be an optimist in tough times, I thought this one fit my site very well. So sit back, grab a hot cup of coffee, and read about just one of the times in my life when I made lemons into lemonade.

When I was young, I had big plans. I headed off to college with every intention of getting my B.A., going on to get my Master’s, finding the man I was going to marry (who was going to be independently wealthy and who was supposed to love cooking), and settling into the life of a career family.

Unfortunately, I picked the wrong man to date. In my Junior year of college I started going out with this guy who seemed very charming on the surface. He was definitely charismatic, but there was something wrong. Something I couldn’t put my finger on.

I won’t get into details, but this charming guy became controlling and rather abusive. And I followed him right into a life of partying and drinking too much. My grades slipped, I overslept and missed the test I needed to take to get into the master’s program, and my self esteem was in the ditch. My boyfriend had me convinced that I would be nothing, were it not for him. I think that’s the lowest I’ve ever been. That’s the lemon part of the story.

Fortunately for me, I had a friend who recognized all the bad signs in my relationship with my boyfriend, and she convinced me that I had options. I started to think of the possibilities and realized that I might just have a future without this guy.

Long story short, I moved back in with my parents, who had moved to Oregon. I was hurt, scared, and in a place where I didn’t know many people. Over the course of the next few months I re-established my relationship with God. I met a great group of Christian friends, many of whom are still friends today. And I met the man that would become my husband. He wasn’t independently wealthy, and he can’t cook to save his life (though he has many, many other talents).

In that dark, dark time in my life, I learned that faith is important. I learned that money isn’t everything, and neither is a career. I never would have guessed I would have become a stay-at-home mom turned blogger. Yet, I love my life just the way it is. (There’s the lemonade).

If I had my life to live over again, I can’t say I’d change anything. The heartache shaped me into who I am today. The dark times made me reconsider my priorities. Now that I know my priorities, I try to live accordingly.

Yes, those sour lemons sure made some sweet lemonade.

Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve made lemons into lemonade? Please share!

And now for the rules and other technical stuff:

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.)

I’m going to tag:

Emily at Remodeling This Life
Randall at Credit Withdrawal
DebtKid at DebtKid
Momma at Tales From the Road Less Traveled
Cindy at Oh My Aching Debts
LJ at Mommy Gets Paid

Photo by mewtate.

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Filed Under Personal Stories |

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Comments

10 Responses to “When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade”

Frugal Dad on April 24th, 2008 6:05 am

Thanks for sharing this story, Lynnae. You certainly did churn out some wonderful “lemonade” with your family, and what you have working here at Being Frugal!
Katja of Skimbaco on April 24th, 2008 6:39 am

Thank you for writing this! I had a similar experience with my ex-boyfriend, which ended up even with worse results, but after that I left to Germany where I met my husband of today!

I am so happy for you that you had the strenght to leave him and what a life you have right now! I know, I never thought of being a stay-at-home-mom either, but it ended up being the best thing ever.

Hugs,
Katja
Michelle H. on April 24th, 2008 8:07 am

Hi Lynnae,

What a beautiful testimony - it reminds me of Isaiah 61. Don’t we have a good God?
I’m so glad He brought you to where you are today. You’re an inspiration to all of us.
Blessings!
Liz on April 24th, 2008 8:18 am

What the heck is a MEME? Blogging, like everything else seems to come with it’s own lingo/vocabulary which is confusing!
Thanks.
Lynnae on April 24th, 2008 8:56 am

@Liz - I wondered the same thing when I started blogging. Here’s a definition:
http://thedailymeme.com/what-is-a-meme/

Basically, someone starts a topical post (could be a series of questions) and “tags” other bloggers by asking them to write on the same topic or answer the questions. Then each of the tagged bloggers write their posts and tag more bloggers. And it continues.
What You Do Is Your Own Story! on April 24th, 2008 9:05 am

What a wonderful story! Whenever I go through tough times, I always try to remember that it is all part of my story. And the retelling of that story may someday help someone else who is or will be going through the same thing.
Notes from the Frugal Trenches on April 24th, 2008 1:37 pm

Thank you for sharing this. I can relate on a lot of levels and am working hard to make my lemonade!
Rachel @ Master Your Card on April 24th, 2008 1:40 pm

i am great believer in making sure that we learn something from all of our life experiences whether good or bad and I definitely think that these think shape how we are. It is no good having regrets as without those circumstances we would not learn lessons.