The Flog – The Fabry Log

It’s been 100 degrees here just about every day. One of the reasons we moved to AZ from Colorado a few months ago was so the kids could be outside. Exercise is part of the regimen of detoxing. Our fear was when it hit 100 that the kids would want to stay inside near a fan or the air conditioner (if I had the guts to turn it on and watch the electric bill skyrocket). So it hits 100 the first day and the kids stay inside. And they’re reading and playing and doing things kids do.

I think it was that day that Colin and Kaitlyn came to us with the idea of a lemonade stand. The kids used to do this back in CO in July. They’d go to the bottom of the driveway and bring a jug of lemonade and a few people would stop. There wasn’t much traffic. Here we live by a pretty busy street where the cars are doing at least 45, and sometimes more. I discouraged the idea.

They said, "But we want to meet people in the neighborhood and this is a good way." (They also wanted to start a dog-sitting, babysitting, yard cleaning business for the same reason.) They showed me their business plan, which included plastic cups and lemons and sugar. They decided they were going to go organic. Finally I relented. I couldn't put up with the pressure.

On the first day they made $20. There are nice people around here, I guess. Yesterday I heard two young guys with tattoos and pierced lips stopped. One said, "I haven't seen anyone doing this out here for a long time." He gave them $3 for two cups of lemonade.

I put a little sign up under theirs that said, stock tips, -.25. I was also thinking I could sell signed copies of Dogwood, and if I had any I would have put them out there.

All the while, in the background, the other kids were watching. And one came the next day and said, "If I buy some freeze pops, can I put up a stand next to theirs?"

Another said, "What if I make tea? And if we stick some water bottles in the freezer, we could sell them, too."

A week later a neighbor who lives on a farm allowed her daughter sit with them and sell eggs from the chickens. Organic again.

There has been some consternation about profits and where to put those and who gets what percentage. And with the wisdom of Kevin Leman, I backed off and said, "You guys work that out yourselves."

They did.

So every afternoon, without us telling them they need to GO OUTSIDE, my kids are out at the end of the little driveway with a card table and some folding chairs, and their scooters, and they’re sitting in the 100 degree heat, sunscreen of course, and hats, and they’re laughing and talking and meeting people who drive up and down the road. We are monitoring the situation, of course, but you wouldn’t know by looking at them that they’re sick, and every day it feels like we’re taking another step toward health.

One cup of organic lemonade at a time.