My 70's Memories - Lemonade Stand

Today I was watching basketball when Madeline came into the house and asked if she could have some money to buy lemonade at a lemonade stand down the street.

I grabbed about $2.00 in change and found Sam and walked down the street, with the kids, to the lemonade stand.

The lemonade stand was a couple of kids who live on the street. The kids had a cooler and chairs sitting on top of the cement sidewalk storm drain cover that was between their homes.

The kids were selling plastic cups of lemonade for 25 cents. I gave them a dollar in change for a lemonade for Sam and for Madeline. The kids were collecting the money in a cup.

Soon, more kids and a few moms showed up and the kids had to go make more lemonade. They really had collected a lot of money.

Then, one of the kids dropped the cup of money in the street and most of the money rolled down the drain.

The kid was mad. He said "One Day I am Going to go down there and get that money!" He said it as though he had thought about "going down there" before.

That is when I re-lived a 70's memory and shared it with the kids.

I said aloud, "We used to climb down in the pipes and drain on my street when we were kids." (You didn't really think my memory would be about lemonade)

All of the moms immediately glared at me with a "Shut up, you idiot!" look.

Thinking quickly, I shared the rest of the true story, using the opportunity to teach a good lessen instead of incouraging bad behavior.

"One time, I climbed down in a drainage pipe like that one and couldn't get out. A bunch of older neighborhood kids lifted the cover and let me climb out."

The children were very interested. I got another round of "shut up already" glares from the mothers.

I finished the story, "As I was climbing out of the drain, they dropped that big heavy cover on one of the kid's hands and it broke his finger."

"From that day on, that older kid always hated me and I had to look out for him when I was out playing."