In this nearby town, there's a little boy with a lemonade stand. But he's not your average little boy, and he isn't sitting behind the usual cardboard box or folding table. He's wearing a full suit (no matter how hot the weather) and he stands behind a very fancy wooden stand with a clearly Kinko's manufactured sign proudly displaying his name.
Seeing this article on being a lemonade stand entrepreneur made me think of him and took me back to a simpler time.
I was lucky to have grown up next door to my godparents and their three kids. They were close in age to myself and my brother, and we got up to all sorts of shenanigans.
Like most kids, we had our own lemonade stand at the end of our road. We weren't quite aware of just how out of the way we were, so most days were spent getting tan and getting high off our own supply.
But one day a jogger ran by. He was clearly at the end of a long run and was looking longingly at our lemonade. We were holding it up, tantalizing him with our 25 cent wares.
He came up to our stand and we were all standing a little straighter, putting our professional entrepreneur hats on as we said "how many cups do you want, Sir?"
And he admitted he wanted one. Oh so badly. But sadly, he did not bring money with him on his run. But he'd gladly pay us later.
We pointed to our mailbox and said he could leave it in there. Forget how stupid it was that we just gave this strange man our address, we were SO excited.
Every day that next week we ran to the mailboxes, anxiously awaiting the 25 cents.
It never came.
I've been thinking about this lately because the best part was our parents were totally supportive. I mean, of COURSE they knew we'd gotten taken (if you can count being out nothing as "taken," since we didn't purchase ANY of the items for this lemonade stand with our own non-existent money) but they totally indulged us. And when the money never came rolling in, they feigned shock and horror at the violation.
Now, I keep change in my car and any time I see a lemonade stand, I always stop and buy a cup, even though I haven't had a taste for the sugary stuff in forever. Hey, I may be working for them someday!
Seeing this article on being a lemonade stand entrepreneur made me think of him and took me back to a simpler time.
I was lucky to have grown up next door to my godparents and their three kids. They were close in age to myself and my brother, and we got up to all sorts of shenanigans.
Like most kids, we had our own lemonade stand at the end of our road. We weren't quite aware of just how out of the way we were, so most days were spent getting tan and getting high off our own supply.
But one day a jogger ran by. He was clearly at the end of a long run and was looking longingly at our lemonade. We were holding it up, tantalizing him with our 25 cent wares.
He came up to our stand and we were all standing a little straighter, putting our professional entrepreneur hats on as we said "how many cups do you want, Sir?"
And he admitted he wanted one. Oh so badly. But sadly, he did not bring money with him on his run. But he'd gladly pay us later.
We pointed to our mailbox and said he could leave it in there. Forget how stupid it was that we just gave this strange man our address, we were SO excited.
Every day that next week we ran to the mailboxes, anxiously awaiting the 25 cents.
It never came.
I've been thinking about this lately because the best part was our parents were totally supportive. I mean, of COURSE they knew we'd gotten taken (if you can count being out nothing as "taken," since we didn't purchase ANY of the items for this lemonade stand with our own non-existent money) but they totally indulged us. And when the money never came rolling in, they feigned shock and horror at the violation.
Now, I keep change in my car and any time I see a lemonade stand, I always stop and buy a cup, even though I haven't had a taste for the sugary stuff in forever. Hey, I may be working for them someday!
9 comments:
This is such a sweet post. I never had a lemonade stand...but want it for my kids. It might just be time to make it happen.
My parents never let me have a lemonade stand; they said something about people suing if they got sick. So, I guess I can blame them for my complete lack of entrepreneurial skills.
That's adorable - Mom gamely let us set-up lemonade stands a few times as pups, but we never had ANY customers. It's so cute that people still do them though, really. It's a perfect way to get rid of spare change and make someone's day.
Wow, what a precious story. I'm sure to your young self, it was very disappointing to not get that money. It's nice that you stop and support the young ones today:)
I haven't thought about lemonade stands for a long time. We don't see them that often any more around here. Maybe it's the paranoia that has set in. Lovely post.
Cute story! It's funny how as kids we get excited about the littlest things, buy hey--25 cents is a lot of money when you're little. I don't think I ever had a stand though. Probably too lazy!
That is so cute! I think it was a little mean of that guy to not come through with his money. He probably didn't have kids, and thought you'd forget about it right away. Little did he know. :)
What a scumbag to not bring you that 25 cents! I'm surprised your parents didn't sneak a quarter into the mailbox for you.
This was a very sweet story. So cute! Nothing more endearing than a lemonade stand..and when its time for luke to do lemonade?? I'm totally going to be his biggest customer
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