A cup of lemonade I bought on our morning walk. I did take one sip, before I took the photo. I have to say it wasn’t a generous serving!

We have friendly neighbors who apparently have an abundance of fresh lemons. Note to self: I need to plant a lemon tree! In Palm Springs we had 15 citrus trees and we have none here.

On our morning walk, we passed the friendly neighbor’s house spotting a young boy sitting outside, alone at a folding table, with a hand painted sign, “Lemonade.”

We asked how long he’d be there and he said another hour and a half. It was 6:30 a.m. I wonder how early he set up his stand?

“We’ll be back after our walk,” my husband promised.

This is a grandchild of our neighbors. We first met them when their grandkids were visiting at Christmas the year we moved in. They had a lemonade stand then, and we thought it was so sweet. It brought back memories of my childhood when we had a Kool-aid stand.

We haven’t seen these neighbors since December 2020 until sometime in April this year when we were out for a walk. We stopped and talked and talked about our kids, who all live in California. They told us about their grandkids and asked if we wanted to go to church with them. The husband promised us his homemade limoncello.

Again we haven’t seen them around. I believe the husband works a lot throughout the country and is rarely home.

Then last week, the day before we left for Mexico, we saw him in his garage.

He said, “Wait!”

He ran to get us two bottles of limoncello. We declined, but he said, “Please take them. I don’t drink, but I like to make it.”

This morning after our walk, I returned to the lemonade stand.

“You’re certainly out early,” I said.

“I try to do my best,” the young boy answered.

“What are you going to do with all this money?” I asked.

“Half goes to charity. I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with the rest.”

I gave him money for two lemonades. He asked what color cups I wanted and poured me a few inches of lemonade in each cup.

It gave me a bit of joy to see a child working his lemonade stand. It’s a rare sight indeed.

What are your memories of lemonade stands growing up? Do you see them today?