Lemons

Thanksgiving is always a time for reflection, and though it can be a bit of a cornball activity, I did happen to think of some of the things I'm thankful for. It shouldn't surprise most folks that one of the things I'm thankful for happens to be a food item. What might surprise you is WHY I'm thankful for it.

I am thankful... for lemons.

Strange, right? Well, it is. And strange on several levels, in fact. Let me enlighten you a bit as to what I'm talking about.

Though I do enjoy the occasional lemon-flavored item, it's not just the food I'm speaking of. My family has a strange tradition that started roughly 5 years back. I'm really not sure how or why it began, but two of my younger cousins and I ended up up sitting around in the living room, tossing a lemon back and forth. Over time, it evolved into multiple lemons and more family members. There are only two rules: throw it softly, and if a lemon starts to become "juicy", it is retired. Bizarrely enough, many of my cousins look forward to this each year. If I'm being honest, I look forward to it, too.

Now, you might ask yourself, why would I look forward to this? It's strange, yes, but this activity is always accompanied with a rare form of belly-laughter. Maybe it's the absurdity to it that people enjoy. Perhaps we enjoy the occasional missed catch that leads to a lemon head-shot. In my case, I think it's the joy of seeing several of my teenage and relatively mopey cousins put down their phones and just spend time with family for a while. Whatever it is, everyone involved seems to have a great time.

Enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving weekends! I hope you've managed to spend some time with family, lemons or not.