Lemon Rose Martini

I need to start this post off with a dedication. Vicky, Steph, and Carol, this is for you lovely ladies. Thank-you for everything you do and for not giving up!

That has probably peaked a few folks’ interests, huh? You see, last week was probably one of the worst weeks I have experienced at the job I have held for a the past four and a half years. That is saying a lot. It’s not an easy job and I’ve had many bad days. One of those days being the day that triggered the effort I have been working for nearly 18 months: the deaths of three Marines. Although an accident, hindsight being 20/20 several mitigation measures were identified for my office to execute in order to prevent this from happening again.

You are probably wondering what else could have happened at work to trump that day. I’ll tell you. The day that all the hard work done to prevent what happened above from occurring again went to…well, I think you can guess where. I am the kind of person that never gives up and fights tooth and nail to overcome any obstacle hurled at me…and I felt completely and utterly defeated.

Fast forward a few hours later that morning. I heard someone asking if I was around. My eyes were bloodshot, which I blamed on my cold (yeah, still sick). “NO!!!!” I shouted (ok, croaked…that really was the cold) over the cubes. One of my colleagues was standing just outside my cube. He leaned in and said, “I think you’ll want to take this.”

I looked up, and there was this lovely arrangement of yellow flowers in a martini glass. “We couldn’t send you a Lavender Martini, but hopefully this will brighten your day. Your “Cougar” Girls.” Besides the thoughtfulness and the recalling of other difficult days we had made it through, I’m not sure how much symbolism the girls realized was layered in this delivery. Little lemons (to make lemonade of course), flowers the color of sunshine, a yellow ribbon (which has many of it’s own meanings)…all telling me subconsciously not to give up.

Inspired by this gift, I created this special cocktail as a way to say “Thank-you”. We will keep going until ordered to stand down. Here’s to not giving up!

Lemon Rose Martini

serves 2

Note: You will find food grade Rose Water in the Middle Eastern section of your grocery store. It is also available online

~Ruth