When life gives you lemons,

make lemonade.

So how was your summer? Did you attend any concerts? I attended a concert with my sister René and my daughter Theresa. The three of us went to see Creedence Clearwater Revival, a band that has been around for quite some time. The music makes you want to sing along and get up and dance the night away. We always look forward to this concert every year. There are often more of us but this time, just the three of us went.

I recall the last time when we saw Creedence perform, there were six of us. We had lawn seats. We usually have a picnic. I brought along a huge umbrella. It always seems to rain every time we’ve been to see Creedence. At the last concert, I became everybody’s best friend. As soon as Creedence began singing the words to Who’ll Stop the Rain, it began pouring and pouring. I quickly opened my umbrella and immediately became very popular. Everyone ran to me and gathered under it for protection. We were all huddled together except for my sister Dannie who continued dancing in the rain. There she was, with her hair totally drenched, enjoying every minute of this experience. We got such a kick out of her and laughed as she continued dancing in the pouring, summer rain. I captured this moment in my mind.

Heard the singers playing
How we cheered for more
The crowd had rushed together
Trying to keep warm
Still the rain kept pouring
Falling on my ears
And I wonder, still I wonder
Who’ll stop the rain.

At the concert this summer, Theresa, René and I all went to see Creedence at DTE Energy Music Theatre, formerly known as Pine Knob. There was no chance of rain, but I brought my umbrella anyhow. After all, I did comment that it rained every time I saw Creedence in concert.

This year we went to see them again. We set up on a good section of the lawn. We left René with the blankets and cameras and Theresa and I went to the concession stand to get some goodies. We were in a covered area when suddenly a huge hailstorm broke out. People started running in all directions. We had never seen hailstones so huge! They were almost the size of golf balls. I reached my hand out and caught a couple of them. It took quite awhile for them to finally melt. As I looked out onto the uncovered area I saw a young man with khaki pants on. He had brown sandals in one hand and his t-shirt in the other. He was dancing, arms outstretched, twirling round and round, laughing and enjoying this unexpected hailstorm. I stopped and savored this moment. My mind flashed back to Dannie. There we were covered by the awning in the midst of this hailstorm watching this guy loving every minute of it. I looked at Theresa and felt filled with gratitude so I told her that I was proud of her and wouldn’t have asked for any other daughter but her. She looked at me teary-eyed and said she couldn’t have asked for a better mom than me either. We hugged. Time stood still. The hailstorm stopped. Then it began pouring, almost flooding the whole area – a full, warm summer rain that lasted about five minutes. That same guy joyfully danced in the rain this time. I watched him. Then, would you believe, it began to hail again! What was going on? Meanwhile back on the blankets, as the first hailstones had begun to come down, René was sitting there. She thought people were throwing ice at her. She turned around to see that it was hail and put up the two umbrellas to protect herself. She was watching the concert and the staff offered to let her sit in the pavilion. So she did. She was having a real good time all by herself, even though she had been bombarded by the hailstones. During intermission, René came walking around the corner and we were reunited with her once again. We bought her something to drink and we all went back to our space. We continued listening to the music and watching the concert. I began dancing by myself and Theresa and René were both laughing at me the same way we did when Dannie danced in the rain. They said I reminded them of Dannie. Then they joined me and the three of us danced and sang along to the songs. We felt connected in such a loving way.

We were totally appreciating the circumstances that we found ourselves in.

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change!

When life gives you lemons, just mix it with the rain and the sweetness of the moment to make your own batch of lemonade!

Gerri Magee is director of advertising and public relations and assistant to the editor of phenomeNEWS. She continues to share her thoughts “On The Path” in this column. You can write her at gerri@phenomenews.com.