This past weekend I made a trip home to the old neighborhood where I grew up and visited with my mother and sister. We were enjoying a spirited conversation over tea and scones when my niece interjected with a question for my sister.

“Mommy?” she asked as she pulled on my sister’s sweater, “Mommy, can I have a lemonade stand?”

Silence fell upon the room as my mother, sister and I exchanged pensive glances.

“Why don’t you go play outside with the dogs,” my sister suggested to her.

As she ran off I asked my sister what could have possibly put that in her head.

“I don’t know,” she replied, “She must have seen it on TV.”

On TV indeed. There hadn’t been a lemonade stand or any such thing in that neighborhood since the incident that crushed my young entrepreneurial spirit on that solemn summer day back in ‘83.

It had been a popcorn and Kool-Aid stand to be precise. It began as an event at a yard sale. But after my parents saw how the stand sparked a natural sales ability in their daughter, they decided to foster the blooming businesswoman inside of me. My father built me a stand and my mother painted a sign.

Soon, I was operating every weekend off my Grandfather’s private property. I was so proud of my business and the folks in the neighborhood seemed to enjoy coming out and socializing while patronizing my stand.



But the businessman who lived just north of my village did not.

Now it could have been that the band on his pants was too tight.
Perhaps it could have been that his ethics weren’t right.

But whatever the reason, his ethics or band,
He made it quite clear that he hated my stand.

The man owned a steakhouse, just down the street.
Claimed if people ate popcorn they’d stop eating meat.

He demanded my permit to operate there,
screaming something about competition unfair.

We fought a good fight but that man shut us down
Stating, “No one dare try that again in my town!”

And so, my young entrepreneurial spirit crushed, I gave up on my dream of owning my own business in my home town as did all those that might have followed.  Eventually, I moved on. After all, there were plenty of cities in the country and no need to put all of my popcorn in one basket.