Making Lemonade

Buying the Ingredients

I recently put my son on a bus for a youth group middle school ski trip.  This was one of the hardest things I have had to do as a parent.  My stomach was one big knot as I drove away.  I can only imagine how he felt.

This ski trip was supposed to be great fun.  He was going with a friend who he does not see all that often because they go to different schools.  Neither of them had ever skied; the trip was going to be a chance for them to experience the slopes for the first time together.

Mixing Things Up

So why the knot?  This trip was scheduled for the weekend of the epic snowstorm: Jonas.  CANCELLED, and for good reasons.  Raleigh essentially closed down that weekend, and no one was driving through West Virginia.  The trip was rescheduled, and guess what:  friend had a conflict, and had to bow out.

You can only imagine the scene that followed in our household.

Son:  so I guess I don’t have to go on the ski trip as the deal I was going with my friend.

Mom:  sorry, that is not how the world works.  You made a commitment to the trip, we paid for it, and you are able to go.  You are going.

Son:  this is not fair.  the deal was I was going with my friend.  I can’t go alone.  This is going to be the worst weekend of my life. (a few words not appropriate to print)

What he didn’t understand was how well I could empathize with him.  I wouldn’t have wanted to go on the trip ‘alone’ at his age either.  Yet, there was no way I could let him walk away from the commitment.   And while he wasn’t friends, per se, with the other kids, he did know them, and learning to ski is a pretty awesome opportunity.

Taste Test

Sending him off involved so many life lessons that I hardly know where to start.  The one that most resonated with him, however, was “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”  Much is being written about today’s parents doing so much to pave the way for their kids that this fundamental life skill may become harder to master.

Who doesn’t remember a time when something didn’t work out as planned and having to make the best of it.  The earlier one learns to accept setbacks and pick back up the better.  The challenge for parents these days seems to be staying out of the way and letting their child walk into the situation, ALONE.

Guess what?  He had a great time.  He LOVED skiing, found a friend to ski with and another to sit with on the bus home.  He is already talking about next year!

Nothing like sweet lemonade……