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goat whiskers and things my mother never told me

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I have a birthday this week.  Birthdays remind us of aging of course, and with this comes some questions I have for my mother.  Like, why didn’t you tell me?

As I sat across from a colleague at a business meeting a few years ago I was mesmerized by a freaky inch and a half long hair on her chin  waving in the gently blowing HVAC breeze in the little room.  My mind wandered from the budget variance agenda to wonder how she lived with that? Like does she blow dry it? Condition it? Does she not have tweezers?

Goat whiskers, my Mom called them. But she didn’t tell me they grace us all as we age.  She didn’t tell me that tweezers will be your new best friend in a few years.

My Mom said that if you slept in your underpants you would grow funny.  I am not sure if that’s ‘Ha Ha funny” or “weird funny”.  I may have dodged that bullet.  Just sayin’.

I was introduced to face cream and moisturizer at an early age. Many, many thanks for that Mom. I remember overhearing (or eavesdropping as us kids so often did) my parents talking about a friend of ours “she needs to wear a turtleneck or hide at Thanksgiving”.  A comment I thought uproariously funny at the time. Not so much now.

Elbows, for some reason were super important. It seemed that potential husbands would flee with horror at the sight of elbows peeking out like bearded dragons from the 3/4 sleeves of the peter pan collared blouses we wore.

Maybe it’s not fair to say my Mom never told me.  After all, we all age and change and morph into versions of ourselves we may not be ready for.  The grace is in accepting that it will happen, and fight to preserve what we can  or wish to. The grace is in staying healthy; taking control of what we can. The grace is in being happy with the here and now.

And as my friend says ” carry a pair of tweezers on your key chain”.

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wild strawberries today

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The wild strawberries are ripe.  Little splashes of red winking at us as Jasmine and I wandered on our walk today.

I used to pick wild strawberries and make jam.  It took hours to pick enough  to make even a few jars of jam and it was a labour of love for Mark who appreciated the effort and loved the jam. There was time.  Time to spend long afternoons picking wild strawberries, saskatoons, blueberries and after a hike up to the abandoned mine on the mountainside, prized huckleberries.

There was time.  In Hazelton we had two television stations…..on a good day.  Letters and updates – contact with friends and family came by way of letters in Box 84, South Hazelton. If we were home to answer the phone we did and if we weren’t home the phone just rang and rang. There were no voicemail messages, no robo calls, no text messages. Term papers were typed on a manual typewriter. There were no ear buds keeping us plugged in and it was just the quiet;  the sounds of the river, the birds and the occasional bear crashing through the woods in search of the same berries I was after.

Now my  phone is in my pocket on my walks and listen to CNN on my bluetooth hearing aids as I walk .  I snap pics of Jasmine just to text to Mark as he is at work.  I watch television shows chosen from hundreds of channels and movies on demand. Work follows me home with laptops and cell phones and doesn’t end with an 8 hour day.

Today my heart hurts because someone I knew only from television and books took his life.  We’ve become interconnected with strangers in intimate ways sharing dreams and sorrow in ways I never could have imagined all those years ago.

Today I am a bit scared at being called back for a second more intense MRI with all that can mean again in ways I never could have imagined all those years ago.

Today I feel frustration, helplessness and anger watching the shit-show the selfish, spoiled child running the USA is spreading around our world in ways I never could have imagined all those years ago.

I’m not saying it used to be a better place all those years ago, but there was time to pick wild strawberries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

empathy……we miss you

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The spiteful mean man with his fingers tweeting out vicious vindictive comments to make himself feel bigger and better.

The rush to vilify those of “the other side” regardless of circumstances while excusing the in-excusable.

Those wearing the badge of empath while cruelly hurting people who supported and loved them.

Empathy, we miss you.  We have become numb and desensitized. Continue reading →

satellite radio, cable news and the snoring thing

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I love my cable news.  Not the news station with the animal name; nope, the other one. Cable news when it’s not breaking and covering tragedies is a bit like a soap opera complete with the albeit orange-tinged patriarch with expressionless Botox beautiful women following dutifully along behind in red-soled stilettos.  You get my drift.

I love my cable news so much that I listen to it on satellite radio on my short commute to work, but for heaven’s sake, what’s with the ads on satellite radio? There are proportionally more snoring ads – ads for snore stopping devices than anything else and in my short 35 minute commute I hear my share.

To be fair, there are also ads for hair loss, owing back taxes, luggage and hemorrhoidal treatment tucked in amongst the snoring ads. Yeah, I wonder what demographic study was done for effective advertising for the satellite radio-listening audience.

I for one do use luggage and have paid back taxes.  I guess 2 outta 3 ain’t bad.

damage control…….just zip it

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Stuff in the news south of our border this week just makes me all snarky.  All edgy waiting for it to be fixed.   What the heck is wrong with people?  When the proverbial foot is stuck in your mouth, back off and fix it.  In other words, own up to the fact that sometimes your words come out wrong and hurt or anger others.  Continue reading →

collecting Peggy-Sues?

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Social media is such an intricate part of our lives that it’s hard to remember what we did with all the time we now spend checking status updates and posting whatever the flavour of the day is.

I maintain a presence on the professional network with groups and connections tied to the various aspects my professional life over the years and I was invited to connect  with someone in the motivational speaking world.  His profile was sparse, but looked ok; he had a picture of himself on a sailboat.  We had no connections in common, but being anxious to expand the speaking aspect, I said ok. Immediately he responded by saying “I like your picture. Send more. Send lots.” (Insert heavy breathing here) Ah……. delete that connection immediately.

My social network presence is relatively small and private and I like it that way. Still, I get friend requests like I got from a guy I’d never heard of.  No friends in common.  I looked at his profile and the one post which was a picture of a nice looking guy.  I looked at his friend list to see if we had anyone in common; as in how did he find me?

Mystery solved.  Why, he was simply building up his list of Sues to go with his Margarets and Peggys.  I guess he was now into Peggy Sues.

I declined. It wasn’t quite as creepy as the one I got from a guy collecting Susans.  Yeah he had a long list of Susans.  So weird…………

 

 

 

 

 

 

on being “the complete” woman; are you listening, Melania?

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How are we to measure “the complete” woman-ness of ourselves?  I ask because over the years the ideals and metrics by which we measure ourselves have risen and in some standards lowered much like our ever-changing hemlines. I ask because over the years the role models and those we emulate change as well. And that can be a good thing.

And talking about role models……..Melania, Continue reading →

flowerpots and the news

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I don’t know what people expect you to be doing when you’re not punching the timecard in the 9-5 world.  When you’re in between contracts, or stepping slowly into new opportunities (as they say which is also known as job hunting and interviewing and that cycle).

Me?  Well, I’ve been doing some creative stuff with flower pots. And watching the news. Lots and lots of news.  Continue reading →