A Recipe For Lemonade
“Just a spoonful of sugar…”
Lee Ann Leach
When giving thanks, most people have a tendency to look at all the good things that have come their way over the past year, or in their entire lives. The usual things are listed, like family, friends, freedom, good health, good fortune, and the like, but I had another thought on this subject as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday. In the first week of September, just before the September 11 attacks, I noticed that I was having some unusual pain in my hands. The pain was making it difficult to do even the simplest things, such as signing my credit card purchases with an ink pen, or taking the milk carton out of the refrigerator. I figured I was simply spending too much time on the computer and was developing carpal tunnel syndrome. That was, until the pain started creeping all over my body. Within two weeks, I was practically bedridden and unable to even walk across the room to the bathroom. So, I got myself to the doctor and had some blood tests performed. Two weeks later, I was called back into the doctor’s office and was informed that I had systematic lupus erythmetosus, or simply “lupus.” There was nothing they could do for me except to give me steroids for reduction of inflammation, along with the information that I simply had to “wait it out” until this “flare” was over.
Luckily, I happen to be in a Bible Study group with a woman (who is now my best friend, by the way!) who is a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture. She saw my condition and how I was barely able to walk, and called me one Thursday night and offered to treat me with acupuncture at no charge in return for my photography skills. After a week’s worth of every other day acupuncture treatments, I can now walk again, use my computer, and even sign my credit card transactions. But, that’s not what I wanted to relate here at all, even though it does explain why I had the thoughts of thankfulness for all things.
You have a lot of time to lay and stare at the ceiling and think when you are in a lupus “flare.” You also have a lot of time to be angry, throw pity parties for yourself, and consider every evil and mean thing that comes your way in life. Basically, you’re nothing but a pissy old hen. Then, one day, while driving home from an acupuncture treatment, I realized I had to be genuinely thankful for the person who has lied to me and hurt me in the past, because that person taught me what it was to be on the other end of the lie and the hurt it causes. I have to be thankful for the person that deceives me, because it taught me to not trust just any person with anything they say to me. I have to be thankful for the times when money is gone and the bills are overwhelming, because it taught me to be conservative and to plan for future emergencies or times of financial drought. I have to be thankful for children that tested my patience when they were young, so I could discipline them to be respectful and honorable as teenagers, and soon to be… men. I have to be thankful for losing loved ones in death, because it taught me to appreciate the ones that are still alive that much more. Yeah, and I am even thankful for an auto-immune disease with no cure and really, no way to treat the symptoms, because it taught me to appreciate good health, strangers (that become friends) that are willing to go the extra mile to help relieve the pain some, that I need to change my diet for extra strength to fight the next flare, and even that I am not the person I thought myself to be.
You can’t go through life expecting roses, sunshine, and happy days all the time. I have spent 40 years kicking against the pricks (literally, in some cases!), being angry at all the misfortunes, failures, bad relationships, money woes, and everything else that has hit me in the face and caused pain. I am thankful most of all this year for all the bad things, because these things have taught me lessons I needed to learn, and to be more willing to stop and think before I do something that may cause someone else the same problems and pain. Bad things can be good things if you just stop and review the situation to see what can be learned, and how it can make you a better person to yourself and to the world around you. They are not fun, pleasant or easy, but those situations can be turned into something constructive in the end. With that said, I’ll take two scoops of sugar in my lemonade, thank you! ◼
