Dot’s Dish #4: When Life Gives You Rotten Lemons

Photo Courtesy of Sower Staff

By Dorothy Cook

The past few weeks for me have been rough. I’ve been to the Emergency Room, the doctor’s office three times, and put on a few new medications. Just as I thought I was recovering from my initial ER visit, I got a pretty bad head cold. I sound like a “very attractive man”, according to my roommate and I have a cough that could knock over a small child. I have missed so much class, and it sucks. 

I woke up on Monday morning with a man’s voice and a low grade fever. I was terrified because I thought that Miss Rona had finally decided to pay me a visit. This wasn’t going to work for me because my roommates all had important stuff to do that weekend. One was going to a wedding and the other two were going to a wedding shower. If Miss Rona had paid me a visit, chances are she paid them a visit as well. So, I sprinted over to Twin Rivers Urgent Care and got myself tested for COVID, strep, and influenza.I needed to know if I had to tell them they couldn’t go have fun that weekend because I was positive for COVID. The next hour as I waited for my results were nerve wracking. 

All of my tests came back negative, and my doctor told me I probably just had a virus that would have to run its course. Fantastic, but I still couldn’t go to class until my fever was down. To date, I have missed probably two weeks worth of classes. Thankfully, I am blessed to have amazing professors who have emailed me back each time I’ve said I won’t be there with replies like, “You’re doing the right thing by taking care of yourself, I’m praying for you”, and, “Don’t worry about anything other than getting better”. 

Lately, life has given me rotten lemons. They might be lemons, but what good are they if they’re rotten? I don’t have COVID and that’s a lemon for sure, but I have a virus that makes my throat feel like the inside of an active volcano and that makes the lemon rotten. I haven’t had to get up and go to class and that’s a lemon, but I like my classes and I’m falling behind and that makes the lemon rotten. 

So, what does one do with rotten lemons? You make lemonade anyways and drink it, even if it’s gross. You suck it up and push through it to the very best of your abilities, because the worst thing you can do when you have rotten lemons is let them sit and get even more rotten. I get up for my 8 a.m. class and Zoom in, even when I feel like going back to sleep because my education is more important than anything else. I am not letting my rotten lemons get even more rotten, I am making gross lemonade. I’m making the very best out of a bad situation by taking care of my body and staying on top of my schoolwork, even though it’s hard right now. 

Personally, I don’t even like lemonade (I don’t like sour things), but in this case lemonade is a metaphor. If you are blessed enough to have beautifully ripe and plump lemons, make some amazing lemonade and drink it. Good for you! If you happen to get some rotten lemons, make the lemonade anyways and drink it because like I said, the worst thing to do with rotten lemons is to let them sit out and get even more rotten. Maybe I won’t get that one on a pillow, but it’s still good advice!