.png)
By Alli Wade
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
When life gives you 11 months of social distancing and isolation,
When life takes away your internships, your summer travels, and your study abroad plans,
When life is full of bad news, political acrimony, and rudeness from seemingly every front,
When life steals your smile and hides it behind a mask,
When life says your grandma is sick,
When life is uncertain,
You stay home and remember just how fun it is to play hours worth of board games with your family. You have dinner around the table again. You relearn each other.
You read, write, listen, discover passions you never realized you have because for once, you forgot about work.
You turn off your endless stream of news and commentary, disconnect from social media for a while, and remember the kind person in front of you in the drive-through who paid for your coffee or the friend who offered to drop groceries off on your porch.
You realize that happiness comes and goes. Joy is permanent (and can be seen even through a mask).
You cherish every moment you have. Every conversation. Every laugh. Every story.
You stop focusing on your next steps and start living for right now.
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
Alli Wade is a McConnell Scholar in the class of 2022. She is studying political science and criminal justice at the University of Louisville.