Lemons and Lemonade

When I was in the 5th grade, I had a starring role in our school's end-of-the-year play. The play was about Cabbage Patch Kids (this was the mid-eighties). And I played a villain, Lavender McDade. One of my solos went like this:

I'm Lavender, Lavender McDade.
Say welcome to the star of this evil escapade.
Everyone needs a lemon in their lemonade.
Well it's me, Lavender, Lavender McDade.

Sometimes, when you've had a really crappy month, like when your friends' baby passes away on the same day as your Grandma, and you crash up your brand new van, it's difficult to see the lemonade beyond the lemons. Like today, for instance.

Mark started a new job today. A few months ago, he realized that there were some personnel changes going on at work that would make his job much more difficult and stressful. For a variety of reasons, he started looking to see what jobs were available in our area, and he found the perfect job for him. Apparently, the company thought he was the perfect man for the job, because he is now starting this new job doing work that he loves. The pay is great, the benefits are great, the work is great, his co-workers seem great. There's just one problem. He has to actually go in to work.

Mark has been working from home for the past year. The four of us have LOVED it. It's given us a lot of flexibility with our schedules. We've eaten three meals together every day. Mark has been able to see the kids more often than ever before. And besides all of those great things, Mark has been even more productive than when he worked in an office. When it came to making the decision to take this new job, it was almost like "working from home" was on one side of the scale and "all the other great benefits of the new company" was on the other. It was a hard decision to make. In the end, "all the other great benefits of the new company" won out and the new job was accepted.

We have been mourning the loss of Mark/Daddy at home for three weeks now, counting down each day until the dreaded 22nd. And today was the day. We all got ready this morning, and instead of Daddy heading upstairs until later in the morning when he would come down for a snack, we said goodbye to Daddy until dinner time.

This new job is definitely "lemonade" for Mark. Overall, we believe he will be happy and will find the work challenging and rewarding. But all good things cannot be perfect, and we're sacrificing Mark working from home (our "lemon" in this story). I guess we're all going to need to get used to its bitter taste, and learn to appreciate it for the lemonade it produces. And I do love lemonade.