When life hands you lemons

Today’s post is part of an ongoing Wedding Wednesday Series. My chance to ramble on about non-running, wedding related stuff.

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I feel as though I may be giving away all the cards in my hand but I am doing it because I really can’t keep it all a secret until July.

I just can’t.

So I’m letting one out of the bag –one more little piece to the puzzle of what my wedding is going to be like.

My wedding has taken on a sort of theme if you will.

And it comes in the form of a lemon.

Yes, a lemon. That lovely happy little yellow fruit that may seem so ordinary to most people, but has made such a huge impact on my life.

The lovely lemon came into my life one rainy day while I was on a highschool orchestra trip to Seattle, Washington.

I was actually quite stoked that my mother opted to chaperone because it meant that we got to take a detour to Nordstroms (there were no big stores like that in Boise at this time) while the others did something orchestra-y.

We walked into the Nordstrom’s already in awe of this huge magnificent clothing store and before we could even walk through the entry way, in front of us stood a display case filled with something yellow.

Upon closer inspection we realized that it was filled from top to bottom with fresh lemons. Yes, lemons!

In and around the display cases also stood mannequins holding lemons. There were seriously lemons everywhere.

My mother and I just stared with fascination at these lemons. Wow! There were so many and they were so beautiful. And they were art.

Never in my wildest, would I have thought to mix fruit and clothing. Seriously, it doesn’t sound like a winning combination but let me tell you friends, it was. It truly was.

I think we spent more time staring at those lemons displays than we did actually shopping in this store.

From that day on my mother and I could not look at a lemon quite the same. It was like that lemon changed the way looked things and thought about things.

A lemon would never be just a lemon whose purpose was to be squeezed into lemonade or cut into small slices as a garnish. Oh no, this lemon signified so much more than that.

We had seen the potential for inspiration and there was no way a lemon could ever be just a lemon to us.

So over the year’s we have surprised each other with lemon-y things as gifts. Just a little reminder of being able to look outside the box, of dreaming big, and that there are no rules.

You can probably imagine my mom’s excitement when I disclosed to her that the lemon would be making its appearance at my wedding. It would be there to symbolize the inspiration we have received from it and to provide a source of happiness and inspiration for my future life.

The lemon will remind me that when life hands me lemons, there are other options than to just make lemonade.

But let’s not disregard all that is great about just a regular normal lemon, because I can’t imagine anything better on a hot day in July than a frosty glass of lemonade.

I guess I just wanted to be able to explain that the lemons at my wedding will be more than just a centerpiece or a beverage, but a fresh new perspective for my brand new life that I’m starting.

So when life hands you lemons, get inspired.

What inanimate objects have inspired you in your life? What meaning have they held for you?

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