Making Lemonade

Here's an interesting challenge for today's quest to focus on the good. We've all heard the saying, "If life hands you lemons, make lemonade." I'm thinking that it would be really beneficial to think of one problem or obstacle in your life, and make a list of all the ways it could benefit you, be used to your benefit, bring you hidden gifts or blessings, or in other ways enhance your life. When writing your list, don't be limited to practical, rational, everyday thinking. Be prepared to really get creative with your answers.

I'll go first:

My son-in-law started a grass fire that almost burned my house down. Thankfully, the house is still standing, but all the siding on the west side of the house has to now be replaced. Just thinking about it makes me tired, and I see it as not only an energy drain, but a financial drain as well. Definitely a lemon!

So... ways this could conceivably benefit me are:

1. Because I am able to put insulation under the new siding, my utility bills are drastically reduced and I save a bunch of money.
2. I get inspired to create a beautiful piece of art on the side of my home. It is so much fun that I continue with the art project until my entire home is completely refurbished in a really fun creative way.
3. The house is so fun and cool and creative, that it becomes a major tourist attraction and I am able to charge a nice little fee for "tours" and sell lots of souvenir photos. This flow of money enables me to quit my job and make more art.
4. I become rich and famous with my creative art home, get featured on "Roadside Revelations" on PBS, and am able to sell the property for millions of dollars and retire to the Bahamas on my own private island.
5. When pulling the vinyl siding off my home, I find a secret stash of cash that's been there since the home was manufactured. (It's a mobile home.) There is so much cash, all of it in "unmarked bills" that I am financially fixed for life.
6. Late one night I have a dream of how to make cool stuff out of the melted siding. It turns out to be really easy to do, and I am able to sell that cool stuff on eBay for astonishing amounts of money.
7. Underneath the siding is a treasure map. Even though the map doesn't really lead to a real treasure, I am able to sell it thousands of dollars to a "bogus map" collector.
8. Underneath the siding is a treasure map - amazingly enough, it's the real thing, and I find an amazing treasure thus solving all my other problems with money.
9. I find out that melted vinyl siding is actually worth really a lot of money. I am miraculously able to cash it in for enough money to pay off all my debts, quit my job, and enjoy a life of leisure and fun.
10. Extreme makeover home edition hears about how wonderful I am, and the producers really feel bad that I have such an idiot of a son-in-law, so they come and build me the house of my dreams... not only that, but they pay my overdue property taxes, and give me plenty of money so I can quit my job and commute to Texas on a regular basis.
11. When I am at the "siding store" I happen to meet the man of my dreams, who is also a "handy man" with plenty of money and a really nice guy. We get married and live happily ever after.
12. When I am at the "siding store" I happen to meet a really nice person who takes pity on me. They give me a whole bunch of money, and/or a winning lottery ticket, and I live happily ever after.
13. Turns out that I do all the work on the trailer by myself. As I am working away on it, I spontaneously slip into a state of nirvana and become enlightened.
14. Turns out that I really enjoy putting up siding, this leads to a new and lucrative career as a siding installer.
15. I get so frustrated and upset by all the mountain of work to be done that I go outside and do REAL magic, and suddenly, spontaneously, like a miracle, the siding replaces itself.

You know, that was really fun. Most of those ideas are beyond the realm of possibility, I know, but I just spent a delightful 10 minutes thinking about a problem that usually leaves me tired and depressed. How about you guys? Anyone up for trying it?