Category: Lifestyle

Mary Ann

When you open your mailbox and fight your way through the charity requests, monthly bills, and endless catalogs, you find a colorful envelop nestled amid the jumble of paper.  You pull it out and find that a dear friend or special relative had sent you a card. Then a smile crosses your face and for a moment you experience pure bliss.  Someone remembered you with a greeting card.  

Few things can give you such joy as a birthday card or thinking of you card. Holiday wishes are captured in a rainbow of colors throughout the year.  There isn’t a digital card, text, or email that can capture the same feelings that a splash of color discovered in your mailbox.  Someone had to go out of their way to write to you.  They had to find a card, address the envelop, locate a stamp, and sign the card possibly adding a few thoughts. And all of this done using real handwriting. Remember handwriting?  It all seems like a lost art. 

I love to shop for cards selecting just the right one for the person I intend to write to.  The browsing is such fun and reading the text is uplifting for me.  However, it can be an expensive endeavor, especially if you frequently send cards.  Some cards can cost as much as $5-$10 dollars each. That really can add up if you send several cards.  When you are on a fixed income, it is something you must consider. However, there are some options that makes this all affordable. 

I have a friend who is in a card-making club, and at the monthly meeting, they make various cards.  They are cute, colorful, and clever. What a great way to get together with friends and create cards to bring joy to others. It brings joy to you as well.  I have another friend who is a talented photographer, and she make cards from the photos she takes.  I love getting a card from her.  You can get blank cards at craft stores like Michaels or online from Amazon.  You can even print your own photos.  I like doing this as well and have put collections together of travels or flowers as a gift of note cards.  

My best kept secret for greeting cards is Dollar Tree.  They have American Greetings and Hallmark cards for a $1.00, and Hallmark has created a line for Dollar Tree which is the best bargain yet – two cards for a $1.00. They offer holiday cards, standard birthday cards or get-well cards, and unique cards for new grandparents, retirement, bride-to be cards, and on and on.  I leave with a stack of cards, and my bill is often under $10.00. The cards are made of high-quality paper, often are sprinkled with glitter, and the envelops are colorful. At times, you need to give the envelops a good lick.   Now, there is no reason not to bring joy to close friends or beloved grandchildren and not break the bank. You will bring joy to loved ones, and in the end you will bring joy to yourself.  

Mary Ann

I was teaching a class on Vision Boards.  When the class was busy cutting and pasting, a nice buzz permeated the classroom with people sharing their stories and comparing their wishes for the future. I milled around the room chatting with the students when I settled at a table with two forty some year-old women. They were busy mothers trying to balance home and work so this Vision Boards class was a good exercise for them to clarify their hopes and dreams.

As we chatted, one of them asked me what advice I would give to a younger woman.  At first, I froze. No one ever asked me for advice. Someone cared enough to ask my opinion. Time stood still.  I quickly went back through 70 years of living trying to find just the right words to say to her. This was my moment to make a statement that someone would use to guide his or her life. This had to be good.  The responsibility was so heavy on my shoulders.   

Then, words from my mother began to emerge from the fog that surrounded me.  My mother told me when I was a younger woman that you need to buy what you want, do what you want, and go where you want because a time will come when you cannot. I think at the time I didn’t take the words very seriously and didn’t see the wisdom in them.  As I have gotten older, it absolutely makes sense. None of us know what life is going to bring us or if we are going to have many years to do the things that we want. I think what my mother meant was enjoy life now.  There may not be a tomorrow.  Yet, how many times do we put things off for that tomorrow?     

So, I shared this with the mothers.  They chewed on it a bit.  Making the Vision Boards was a chance to put the things they wanted to buy, to do, or to go in a concrete format that they could revisit each time they passed their Vision Boards.  Their dreams would go out to the universe.  They had a path to making their dreams a reality.  

Now, I was puffed up like a peacock and emotionally drained at the same time.  This was such a lovely compliment for a younger woman to ask an older woman for her advice.  We all need to ask those older women, those silver sages, in our lives for some of their wisdom, because a day will come when they will not be there to ask.  The wise words my mother gave me have stuck with me.  I was glad to pass it on to other women.  They need to remember them and remember to work on their core. When the core is gone, it is so hard to get it back, and believe me, you will need it!   

Mary Ann

Covid was hard for everyone, yet there were also some silver linings for us.  And I mean literally a silver lining.  When we all had to stay home due to the pandemic, women were faced with the dilemma of coloring their own hair or going au naturelle.  I had decided I would go natural!  I colored and highlighted my hair for years, and I wasn’t sure what I would look like with a different color; however, there was no time like the present to check it out.

 So, I began letting my hair grow out.  An Adventure!  A Challenge!   A Mess!!  I could see I had a row of pretty silver at my roots.  I hated that silver streak peeking out each month prior to my hair appointment, but now, it could not grow out fast enough.  I also began cutting my own hair so figured I could cut off all the light brown with blond highlights in a few months, and viola, I would be a silver fox.   At first, I was a calico cat with three colors all over my head. Then I morphed into Cruella Da Ville with a line of white hair circling my head.  Finally, I ended up looking like Mrs. Claus with a lovely shade of platinum.  I found myself doing double takes in the mirror.  Who was that lady?   Well, Mrs. Claus, of course!  

Thankfully, I was housebound with the pandemic and could hide my head of messy hair for the needed time to become a silver fox.  I have come to love my new look and wondered why I didn’t do this earlier.  However, I would have had to leave the country for a few months to hide or fake a maternity leave which would have been a stretch.   So many of my friends have gone au naturelle and are loving it.  It is freeing to embrace who you really are.  And besides, you save a lot of money.  You just need a good hair cut to become the silver fox that you were always meant to be. I get many compliments about my hair color, and one child I have known for a long time told me I looked younger.  He still believes in Santa Claus, so I think he was hedging his bets that I might really be Mrs. Claus. At any rate, I am thankful for the unexpected silver lining of the pandemic and taking the leap of faith!