The Squeeze

2020 has been quite the roller coaster. I wanted to share this unique story with you in hopes that Coronavirus or not, that you are trying to “squeeze” the most out of life…

“Have you squeezed all of the juice out of your grapefruit?”

By Dan Wolgemuth, The Monday Memo

Several weeks ago, while on a trip, I ordered grapefruit juice for breakfast.  As soon as the tart citrus flavor hit my mouth I was transported back to my childhood.  I remembered vividly my mother serving a grapefruit half along with my other breakfast menu.  With a narrow serrated spoon I would do my best to extract each flavorful segment.  When the scooping work had been performed to the best of my ability, it was time to squeeze the remaining juice from the empty peel.  With each squeeze I would fill the little spoon and drink down the wonderfully fresh liquid.

When I had completed my task, my mother would look across the room at me and ask, “Have you squeezed all of the juice out of your grapefruit?”  With confidence I assured her that I had.  With equal skepticism she would make her way across the room to the table, seize the smashed yellow carcass, and with my spoon in hand she would successfully squeeze spoonful after spoonful out of my discarded peel.  When she finished with my grapefruit, I knew it was empty.  I’m not sure if it was technique, strength, or will, but one thing was for sure, my mother wanted nothing to go to waste.

Last Tuesday this same mental picture flashed to the forefront of my mind.  This time under completely different circumstances.  This time I was standing by the hospital bed of my wife as they wheeled her out of her hospital room to surgery.  In that instant, tears welled up in both of our eyes as we thought about the agonizing uncertainty of the moment.  In that moment, now frozen in my mind, I thought of the juice I’d failed to squeeze out of the opportunities that life had afforded us.  As though traveling in slow motion, I panned back across the experiences I’d opted out of, the words I’d left unsaid, the time I’d left untapped.  In that instant I thought about my failure to squeeze every last drop out of what I’d been given and how badly I wanted the opportunity back.

Having now spent nearly a week since that experience, I know that I will never be the same.  I know that life, like grapefruit halves, is filled with nourishment, flavor and richness.  I also know that more often than not it takes a squeeze to get to the very best juice.  A squeeze of commitment, determination,

and priority.

“Have you squeezed all of the juice out of your grapefruit?”  Press the juice out of every moment you have.