Category Archives: Peggy Browning

Hoarder or Historian? Boomers…Life after 50

Posted on March 30, 2013 | 2 Comments

Hoarder or Historian?

I know what I am, but what are you? I ‘m a hoarder.

by Peggy Browning

I’ve been going through boxes, closets, and yes…piles of stuff…in preparation for moving from my 3 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom house into a much smaller domain (a travel trailer.) Now I’ve come to the awful conclusion that I’m a hoarder.

Yep. I’m only one box of junk…one Rubbermaid box of outdated clothing…and a pile of newspapers with a dead cat underneath it…away from being a hoarder.

All this time I’ve thought more kindly of myself…calling myself a pack-rat, a collector, even a historian. But no, I have to face reality and this can be called nothing other than being a hoarder.

I derive a certain pleasure from just looking at my stuff. I even go to garage sales and estate sales because I get excited about looking at other people’s stuff. I love to open a box and find a long forgotten treasure and wax nostalgic about it for a few minutes.

And now that I’m sorting through my belongings, trying to weed out the fluff and keep only necessities, I find it to be rather painful to think of getting rid of all this junk. Some of it holds memories of good times past; some of it holds the hope of good times ahead.

For instance…I bought a pewter teapot at a junk store recently. To me, this is not simply a beaten up old teapot. In my mind, I see this teapot sitting on my kitchen table holding a bouquet of peace roses cut from my rose garden decorating a little home filled with love and grandchildren and fresh-baked cookies. I imagine my grandchildren having fond memories of seeing that little teapot filled with roses, remembering all the love at Grandma’s house. I see them fighting over the teapot after I die. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I'm a little teapot...filled with imagination...

I’m a little teapot…filled with imagination…

But…I don’t have a rose garden much less a blooming peace rose. I don’t have fresh baked cookies straight from my oven. Soon I won’t even have a kitchen table, other than the one in my soon-to-be-purchased RV.

So…shall I toss the teapot thereby tossing my hope for nostalgic remembrances of me after I’m gone? Well, duh…toss the teapot. And write that descriptive scene about the roses in one of my yet to be published novels.

They have stories to tell, but nobody's talking.

They have stories to tell, but nobody’s talking.

And what about my naked Chatty Cathy doll who no longer chats? My Francie (Barbie’s cousin) with the broken leg and smart short hairdo that I styled for her? My Pepper & Pete & Penny dolls with the bendable wire legs? My naked  beheaded original Barbie doll body?

I tried giving them to my five-year old granddaughter only to be rebuffed with “Eeewww, Grandma, that’s yucky. I don’t like them.”

I’ve considered it my place to pass along memories, to tell my descendants about my life. I’ve considered myself a historian. When I was two years old, our elderly neighbor, Mrs. Gill, entrusted  a china doll, a porcelain cup, and a Frozen Charlotte doll with my mother to keep for me.

 

My china doll, Angela Amelia and Frozen Charlotte, her companion.

My china doll, Angela Amelia and Frozen Charlotte, her companion.

Mrs. Gill too, was cleaning out her home, sorting through her treasures, preparing to down-size from her big two-story home in the country. The doll belonged to her daughter, who died in childhood.  The cup was a gift from Mrs. Gill’s best friend in honor of her 14th birthday. Frozen Charlotte was accompanied by no story. My mother kept these things secure for me and gave them to me when I grew up, passing along the trust to ensure their safe-keeping. I’ve packed these possessions in boxes and moved them over 30 times, from apartments to rentals to my own home. There are no chips or dings on them anywhere, except for the original chips and dings.

Now what do I do with them? Move them again or entrust their well-being to someone else? (I’ll probably take them along with me.)

My first Trade Days purchase.

My first Trade Days purchase.

I’ve been collecting junk since I was a kid. My Daddy let me tag along to Second Monday Trade Days when he took pigs to sell there. He would give me a dollar and allow me to wander the streets at the monthly trade fair. My first purchase was a set of bookends for a quarter…which left me enough money to buy a snow-cone and other niceties. Those bookends have been packed up and transported on over 30 moves as well.

I’ve called myself a collector all these years, but all that I consistently collect is merely dust. I have some in every room of my house…

The naked truth is…I’m a hoarder. I hoard memories of the past and hope for the future.

But now where will I stash all these memories and hopes in a travel trailer? I sympathize with the hoarders on the TV shows. I know it’s painful to let go. But it’s time. It’s time to let go.

I’ll have a moving sale and set my treasures out for the public to buy.

Anybody need a mute, naked Chatty Cathy? She needs a good home. She’s ready to move on.

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Posted in Happiness, Home Improvement, Peggy Browning, Post 50, Random Thoughts about Post 50 Issues, Reinvention and Starting Over, women over 50, women writers over 50

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World Poetry Day … Baby Boomers Life

Posted on March 21, 2013 | Leave a comment

World Poetry Day  March 21, 2013

by Peggy Browning

In Celebration of World Poetry Day 2013

In Celebration of World Poetry Day 2013

Today is World Poetry Day.It’s a great day for romantics and dreamers world-wide.  In honor of this lovely day, I’m sharing some of my favorite poems.

The first poem is by Sara Teasdale. I love her gentle verses although they tend to be a bit melancholy. I discovered her work during my junior year in high school in my English III literature textbook. The first Sara Teasdale poem that I read was There Will Come Soft Rains. It touched my heart and I’ve kept it there all these years since. That’s what poetry does…it touches us somewhere deep inside and allows us to keep those feelings whenever we remember it again.

There Will Come Soft Rains was written after World War I and talks about the recovery of Nature over the battlefields. It talks about annihiliation of the human race 25 years before the first atomic bomb was exploded to end World War II. And yet this poem says it so beautifully…

There Will Come Soft Rains

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,

And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the ponds singing at night,

And wild plum trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire

Whistling their whims on a low fence wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one

Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,

If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,

Would scarecely know that we were gone.

- Sara Teasdale -

Another poem for World Poetry Day

My mother quoted poetry often. I loved to hear her dramatically break into verse at the slightest inclination. She loved Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and often said…”under the spreading chestnut tree, the village smithy stands…” and then launched into the poem for no reason at all other than she liked it. She also loved Evangeline, Longfellow’s epic poem of unrequited love. (Her great-grandaughter is named Iris Evangeline, in honor of the heroine of the poem and legend.)

My favorite poem that my mother quoted was The Swing, by Robert Louis Stevenson. I can still hear her voice, reciting it, when I read it now.

The Swing

How do you like to to up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the well,

Till I can see so wide,

Rivers and trees and cattle and all

Over the countryside___

Till I look down on the garden green,

Down on the roof so brown___

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!

_ Robert Louis Stevenson _

And just one more…for World Poetry Day

This is one of my favorites by Shel Silverstein. It describes perfectly my view on life…or how I wish it could be for all of us, every one of us.

Hug O’War

I will not play at tug o’war.

I’d rather play at hug  o’war,

Where everyone hugs

Instead of tugs,

Where everyone giggles

And rolls on the rug,

Where everyone kisses,

And everyone grins,

And everyone cuddles,

And everyone wins.

- Sheldon Allan Silverstein -

And one last thought on World Poetry Day:

Thank you for sharing my favorite poems with me on World Poetry Day, 2013.

I hope your day was filled with giggles, hugs, kisses, and grins.

That way Everybody Wins!

You can buy my books on Amazon.

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Posted in Boomer Lit, Happiness, Peggy Browning, Random Thoughts about Post 50 Issues, women over 50, Writing

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Author Linda Leander…Women Writers over 50

Posted on February 18, 2013 | 1 Comment

Women Writers Over 50

Fifty Odd supports women writers over 50.

I’m highlighting other authors each week…one per week…women writers over 50. This is a diverse group of writers…I think there will be something here to interest everyone.

Each author has links to her works. Support your Indie Authors! Buy their books! We women writers over 50 need your support!

Linda Leander, author of Inzared Queen of the Elephant Riders, is featured this week.

L.Leander is an author who lives in Wisconsin with her husband, Ralph, during the summer months but spends the majority of the year in Mazatlan, Mexico.

Ms. Leander is an award-winning singer/songwriter who has also won accolades for her needle arts.

 

 

As a child, Ms. Leander loved the circus, hence, her debut novel, INZARED Queen of the Elephant Riders. The book follows the adventures of an Appalachian girl in 1843 who runs away to join a Gypsy circus and becomes a famous elephant rider.

The author also has available a series of self-help books available for beginning writers.

Following is a synopsis of  Inzared: Queen of the Elephant Riders:

Sometimes life isn’t what we wish for.  A Gypsy circus comes to a small Appalachian community in 1843.  A naïve, misunderstood farm girl is entranced by the sights, sounds and costumes and is persuaded to join the troupe.  Late one night she leaves the only home she has ever known and follows the Gypsy wagon circus.  She learns to ride the main act – an elephant named Cecil and she and the elephant form an instant bond.  She is given the stage name of INZARED, Queen of the Elephant Riders and is delighted.  

But all is not as it seems.  There are undertones of danger and sadness lurking in the shadows, as foretold by the old fortune-teller Vadoma.  Inzared finds true love and works hard to gain acceptance into the Gypsy world.  Someone is sabotaging the circus – but whom?  Inzared and Paytre (the boss handler) search for clues.  What of the family Inzared left behind?  Will they ever forgive her?  Does she miss them?

This book is for anyone who has ever had a dream so big, so overwhelming that it consumed his or her every waking minute.  Sometimes you just might get more than you bargained for and maybe it’s not what you really wanted after all.

You can follow Linda Leander at the links posted below.

Amazon UK Link: http://tinyurl.com/by8xlwk

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/L.-Leander/e/B008IVRNU8

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lleander11

Video Trailer:  http://youtu.be/lQHtsFQGAP0

Website:  www.lleander.com

FB Author Page:  http://facebook.com/lleanderbooks

Amazon Author Page:  http://www.amazon.com/L.-Leander/e/B008IVRNU8/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1346994653&sr=1-2-ent

L.Leander’s Reviews and Interviews: http://lleandersreviewsandinterviews.wordpress.com/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/lleander11

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6441993.L_Leander

Pinterest:  https://pinterest.com/lleander11/

Google+:  https://plus.google.com/100076816458862731821/posts

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Posted in Life after 50, Peggy Browning, Random Thoughts about Post 50 Issues, reading, women over 50, women writers over 50

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Women Writers over 50…Joss Landry

Posted on February 11, 2013 | 2 Comments

Women Writers Over 50

Today is the start of a new feature on Fifty Odd. I’m highlighting other authors each week…one per week…women writers over 50. This is a diverse group of writers…I think there will be something here to interest everyone.

Each author has links to her works. Support your Indie Authors! Buy their books! We women writers over 50 need your support!

 

Meet Author Joss Landry:

I want to thank Peggy Browning for inviting me to take part in her blog.

Below is a picture of the cover of my recently published novel: Mirror Deep.

The Summary:

DANGER AND ROMANCE…

…Roll like thunder in Kat Bonner’s world, when a known felon comes to the ranch to drop a bomb about her past. Kat turns to Pierce for help, the same Pierce who bucks her every chance he gets, and whose feverish investigation lands them in trouble with the law and directly in the path of a serial killer.

Mystery deepens, fraught with wrong turns, bumbling detectives, old murders, and Kat’s doppelganger no one ever sees but her, just as she never sees the change in Pierce’s feelings toward her brewing, mounting, until she can no longer deny them.

And now…about Joss….

Joss has worked as a consultant for more than twenty years, writing copy for marketing firms and assisting start-up companies launch their business. She recently made the switch from composing copy and promos, to writing fiction and prose. She is developing her style through courses and the support of other writers. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America and is presently working on honing three other novels for publication.

You can find my book listed on Amazon:  Mirror Deep (kindle version) and Mirror Deep (book version).

You can also find my author page: Joss Landry and I invite you to follow my blog: www.josslandry.com; the more the merrier.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer? I guess I’ve been writing all my life; in my head, rewriting dialogue and story in movies—the wish to write forever lurking.

What do you hope to accomplish with your writing? I want to be the spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down … a little fun in fiction to drive good values home.

What is your favorite part of your book? The excerpt is from Chapter 9 and describes my heroine, Katherine Bonner; tall and athletic Kat sports meshed blond and amber hair highlighting eyes an almost liquid gold. Loves to ride and is on her way to becoming a horse whisperer.

“Late Friday night, Kat couldn’t sleep. She usually had trou­ble sleeping the night before a big event. But tomorrow would be a day not much different from her normal Saturdays. She’d entered Fog Mist in the one-day event. He would come through without a hitch. The event didn’t make her nervous, not one bit.

She had woken in a cold sweat, her heart pounding with dread. She’d sensed a presence in the room. Quickly, she’d turned on the light to disperse the shadows, but not before cold fear had trickled down her back. Now, in the mirror beside her armoire, her face appeared ashen.

Maybe recent events had all been a dream—a nightmare: Victor Horn’s murder, the attempt on Lauren’s life, this frantic search for her roots. Truth of the matter, she couldn’t shake Caitlyn’s face from her mind. The sad, imploring way she had stared at her, the cheerless downturn of her mouth, and the unhealthy gleam of eyes too wide. The face haunted her dreams, populated her thoughts when she least expected it.

Tired of tossing and turning, she put a cotton slip over her nightgown and walked to the stables. A light burned in the distant part of the barn.

Arriving near the side door, she dimmed her flashlight. She didn’t want to alert anyone to her presence. Kat slipped the key into the door to unlock it, but the handle turned without effort. Someone was burning the midnight oil, she thought. Of course, in a stable this size, there were often activities at all hours of the night.

Stealthily she approached Fog’s stall. Once inside, she crouched on a footstool while resting her back against the planks, with Fog Mist’s blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

“Surprised to see me here, aren’t you, Fog?” The horse fold­ed his long legs and bent to Kat’s height the instant she sat down beside him. The honor of his mistress visiting him in the middle of the night occurred rarely, she supposed.

“What am I going to do, Fog?” ”

 

Joss Landry.♥♥

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Posted in Life after 50, Peggy Browning, women over 50, women writers over 50, Writing

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Bucket List Review 2012

Posted on December 31, 2012 | 9 Comments

All my friends know that I make a Bucket List every year. I’ve made one each year since I turned 50.

I am a list maker. I make a TO DO list almost every day. If I don’t make a TO DO list, I usually don’t accomplish much. Sometimes, even when I do make a list for the day, I still don’t accomplish much.

Without a list, I often lose focus and accomplish nothing other than phoning my friends, eating nachos from Taco Bell, and watching Dr. Phil. Those activities aren’t exactly challenging.

I even go so far as to make a list of what I want to accomplish for the week, the month, and the season…so making a Bucket List for the whole year is a natural extension of those plans.

You could call me obsessive-compulsive, but please don’t. I’m not OCD. I just like to mark things off the list.

I’ve found that making a Bucket List for each year keeps me in focus. I write down the things I want to do…I add activities for each year of my age. That way, I have even more things to accomplish as I grow older.

My 2012 Bucket List numbered 56 items; the 2013 version will number 57. I haven’t finished my 2013 list yet, but I know that it will include walking on the Appalachian Trail, somewhere…somehow. It’s a long trail, surely I can find a place to walk on it!

If I don’t write a Bucket List, I waste time with a lot of shouldas, couldas, wouldas, and damn,IwishIhads. I like to live with few regrets.

Some years I do everything on the list. Some years I don’t. But writing the list puts things in perspective. I examine each activity on the list and sometimes find that just looking at it and thinking about it helps me decide if it’s even worth doing or if I still desire to do it.

Here’s a review of  a few of the activities I checked off my 2012 Bucket List:

  1. Write a newspaper column. (http://pioneer-sentinel.com)
  2. Publish a book. (Fifty Odd: Viewing Life after 50 through Rose-Colored Bifocals…available on Amazon and Create Space.)
  3. Rock my new granddaughter to sleep. (And sing a lullabye)
  4. Take a trip somewhere. (Made several)
  5. Pay bills off. (Hallelujah!)
  6. Ride a “real” train with my grandson and granddaughter. (More fun than a barrel of monkeys.)
  7. Dress up and go somewhere nice. (Attended a friend’s beautiful wedding.)
  8. Write some good feature stories. (Again…http://pioneer-sentinel.com)
  9. Go to a play. (Chorus Line)
  10. Go to a concert. (Michael Martin Murphy)
  11. Read 10 good books. (More than 10, of course…but 10 is a good place to start)
  12. Be still and be calm. (Ohm….what else can I say?)
  13. Learn something new. (Attended the 13 week Sheriff’s Office Citizen’s Academy.)
  14. Be frugal. (Always.)
  15. Grow a vegetable garden. (Fresh potatoes and squash out of my backyard were delicious.)
  16. Work in my yard. (Made a beautiful, pleasant flower garden grown mostly from seed.)
  17. Make every car payment on time. (Yep.)
  18. Build something with my grandchildren. (A bird house and a hammock stand.)
  19. Do something special for someone. (It’s a secret.)

Here’s what I DIDN’T accomplish from the 2012 Bucket List :

  1. Learn to make a good coconut cream pie. (But I ate a delicious slice at a café in Holliday, Texas.)
  2. Put my photographs in albums. (Still in multiple boxes.)
  3. Lose 25 lbs. (Oh, well.)
  4. Stop being so gripy and intolerant. (Working on it.)
  5. Go to a college basketball game. (There’s still March Madness…)

So…I did more than I didn’t do…even though I didn’t do everything on the Bucket List.

I learned a lot. I did a lot. I read a lot. I meditated a lot. I laughed a lot.

I have few regrets for the year of 2012. I started a couple of projects that I didn’t finish…but at least I tried….

AND…..

If there’s anything the Mayans have taught us, it’s this :   If you don’t finish every project you start, it’s not the end of the world.

Really.

But don’t let that stop you from trying….

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Posted in Aging, Aging Gratefully, Bucket List, Grandchildren, Happiness, Integrity, Legacies, Life after 50, Peggy Browning, Random Thoughts about Post 50 Issues, Reinvention and Starting Over, Self Awareness, Wisdom, women over 50

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Life Lessons from 2012

Posted on December 30, 2012 | 9 Comments

Every year it seems I learn something new and important about myself, about the world, and about the people around me. Every year I learn new life lessons. Actually some of those lessons are repeated annually until I finally learn them and put them to use or put them to rest. But…whatever…

The year of 2012 was no different. I learned some very valuable life lessons this year.

I’m sharing them with you. Maybe you learned some of the same things, maybe you learned different life lessons. It doesn’t matter…as long as we all learned something that will make us better people and enhance our lives.

Here’s a few new life lessons I learned about myself in 2012:

  • It really does feel good to forgive. Forgive others, forgive yourself.
  • It’s not necessary to voice my opinion on most things.
  • I matter a great deal to some people and I am nothing to others. Some people matter a great deal to me and others are nothing to me.
  • We are all on our own path. It’s not my place to interfere with another’s path.
  • People figure things out on their own.
  • Life changes with a new heartbeat. It changes as well with the last heartbeat.
  • If you love someone, tell them. Tell them more than once. Don’t forget.
  • There are some things that you just have to let go because you can’t change or fix them.
  • Change is inevitable. I can accept it or not, but I’m happier if I embrace it.
  • I am resilient. I am courageous.
  • I never, ever want to teach again. Never. Ever. NEVEREVER.
  • I support gun control. Yes, I’m a Texan. And I still support it.
  • I support the re-vamping of the mental health system. And I will gladly allow my taxes to be increased so that can happen.
  • The bonds of family are very, very strong…good or bad…they’re still stronger than I believed.
  • It’s OK to follow that dream. Pursue it. Do it. Make it happen.
  • It’s not too late to find your bliss and follow it.
  • When you find your passion, it changes your life.
  • Be peaceful inside, and you will find peace outside. You can even share it.
  • I’m a better person than I give myself credit for. And I’m a worse person than I care to admit.

Here’s some old life lessons that were repeated this year:

  • Grandchildren are the best gift of all. I learned that in 2006, 2008, and again this year.
  • Nothing is sweeter than rocking a baby to sleep.
  • Love is the answer to everything. Yes, it really is.
  • It’s the things that we could never predict or expect that change our lives the most.
  • Life is easier with plenty of money, but it’s just as sweet with less.
  • I am very ignorant about many, many, many, many things. And that keeps my mind and my heart smaller than I want them to be.
  • If we could know the future, we might never get out of bed each day.
  • Kindness matters. We don’t know how much one small kindness to another person can make their life better, even if it’s only for that moment.
  • Give sincere compliments. Keep criticisms to yourself.
  • Listen. You will learn more about your world, your fellow man, and that will help you learn more about yourself.
  • Believe actions, not words. Not all compliments from others are sincere.
  • Don’t be afraid. Of Anything. Ever. (Except snakes and spiders. You can always be afraid of them. Zombies, too.)

In the teaching profession, we over-use the phrase “Be a lifetime learner.” But, over-used or not…we should be lifetime learners. We can learn life lessons every single day if we open our eyes…open our ears…and open our minds.

“Promise me you’ll always remember : You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
― A.A. Milne

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Posted in Aging, Grandchildren, Grief, Happiness, Life after 50, Mental Health after 50, Peggy Browning, Relationships

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Fifty Odd…the BOOK!

Posted on November 22, 2012 | Leave a comment
Today….TA DA….my book Fifty Odd: Viewing Life After 50 Through Rose-Colored Bifocals went live on Amazon. It is currently available in e-book form for $3.99. You can download it to your Kindle or on your computer, iPad, or iPhone by using the Kindle app available for free at the site.
Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AB3SH6A

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Posted in Aging, Aging Gratefully, Bucket List, Dating after 50, Excess Facial Hair, Grief, Happiness, Insomnia, Life after 50, Peggy Browning, Post 50, Self Awareness

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Bad Hair and Fat Girls

Posted on August 6, 2012 | 12 Comments

Last week, I wallowed on my sofa nursing the blues and watching the Olympics. Occasionally I would get off the couch to check my Facebook news feed and Yahoo! News. Discouraged by all the posts about bad hair and fat girls, I quickly returned to flopping around on the couch, wishing I’d never left it in the first place.

As I lay there, flipping channels between NBC, ESPN and MSNBC, I wondered about all the crap I’d just read. My Facebook feed was full of snarky remarks about women’s hairstyles and their body size.

The first post I read was about Hillary Clinton and her current hairstyle. There was a long, detailed conversation about that.

The Secretary of State has let her hair grow out. And not everyone likes it. Oh, darn.

One poster said he liked Hillary’s longer hair, but he thought her legs were too heavy.

I’ll bet the Secretary of State worries about that a lot. It’s not like she’s busy or anything…she’s just trying to keep Iran and Israel from starting a war and North Korea from starving its entire population and Syria from murdering its women and children.

I’m sure that while Madame Secretary was dodging the tomatoes and shoes lobbed at her motorcade on her diplomatic tour of Egypt, she was quietly obsessing about getting her roots touched up.

I’ll bet that when she got back in the States, her first call was to her hairdresser. Mmmhmm.

Then there were all the comments about Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas. Forget that the 16 year old won two gold medals for the U.S.A. in both the team and individual all around competitions, it’s her hair that concerned folks.

I imagine that Gabby won’t be too concerned about her hair when she competes this week. She will likely be focused on her performance on the balance beam and the uneven bars.

Maybe she can do something about her hair when she gets back home, wearing those big gold medals around her neck.

And then, of course, everybody had something to say about Holley Mangold, the U.S. weightlifter in the 75 Kg-plus category. She’s too fat, everybody said. Strong, they conceded, but fat. And her hair looked tacky, slicked back as it was to stay out of her eyes.

Holley didn’t win any medals, but she tried. She lifted 231.5 pounds and 297.6 pounds in two categories: the snatch and clean and jerk. She did that with a torn wrist on one hand and a fluid pocket, bruised bone and tear on the other one.

I wouldn’t expect a 98 lb. weakling to do that.

I have to wonder: what the hell is wrong with us? Why do we casually insult people about their hair and their weight when they are obviously engaged in other worthwhile efforts like bringing peace to the world or setting world records?

Why do we focus on bad hair and fat girls when there are so many more important issues with which we could concern ourselves?

These women, Hillary…Gabby…Holley… are accomplished. They are strong. They are focused and engaged. They are making important strides worldwide with their feats of strength, diplomacy and derring-do.

As I lay on my couch, I compared myself to these women, young and old. There was actually little to compare.

  • I can barely carry on a good conversation much less speak with world leaders.
  • I’ve never been able to turn a cartwheel.
  • I struggle to lift a 40 lb. sack of dog food into my shopping cart.
  • I don’t even have a good haircut.

I’m no match for these women. I admire them for their strength, determination and inner beauty.

Their messy hair and body mass index doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of Life.

And if it doesn’t matter to them and their lives, I don’t think it should matter to us.

We’ve all got more important things to do than coif our hair.

Hillary and Gabby and Holley are doing those things…their things. They’re not too worried about bad hair and fat girls.

Why aren’t we doing our important things as well?

“We need to understand that there is no formula for how women should lead their lives. That is why we must respect the choices that each woman makes for herself and her family. Every woman deserves the chance to realize her God-given potential.”

- Hillary Rodham Clinton, It Takes A Village -

“We need to do our own important things, accomplish our own important goals…despite our bad hair or fat bodies.”

- Peggy Browning, Bad Hair and Fat Girls -

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Posted in Hairstyles, Mental Health after 50, Peggy Browning, Random Thoughts about Post 50 Issues, Reinvention and Starting Over, Relationships, women over 50

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Bigger than Dallas

Posted on July 5, 2012 | 5 Comments

I try to live a peaceful, quiet life with as little personal drama in it as possible. I lie low trying not to attract craziness to me, intent on my pursuit of happiness.

I’m quiet. I’m not confrontational. I’m intolerant of conflict.

I’m…boring as heck.

That’s why I watch TV, just to get a little action in my life. That’s why I’m grateful Dallas is back.

All my favorite Texans are back on TV, adding a little spice to my boring life. I was beyond excited when Turner Network Television announced that J.R. and Bobby and the rest of the Ewings were coming back in living color and bringing all their mayhem with them.

I’m glad to see them. Oh, how I have missed them!

 ”Power, money and control mean nothing to me. I want a nice ordinary life with my husband.”__Pamela Ewing (Bobby’s 1st wife… oh, how foolish she was!)

See, I don’t like conflict and insanity in my own life. But I darn sure love to watch it on TV.

Watching Dallas provides me with all the debauchery, illicit affairs, greed, corruption, intrigue, cheating, lying and downright nastiness that I can stand.

“Chances are the baby’s yours. I’ve been just as faithful to our marriage vows as you have been, darling.”__Sue Ellen Ewing (J.R.’s ex-wife. If she would run for governor of Texas, I would vote for her.)

Oh. My. Goodness.

Those Ewings are masters of chaos, licentiousness and smack talking.

“When you’re holding a double barrel shotgun, use both barrels.”__J.R. Ewing (always a smart aleck, even in danger.)

Sure, I could watch the news of the presidential campaign and the members of Congress and hear all the same kind of stuff, but watching Dallas is much better. Dallas isn’t real. It’s just simple, trashy, naughty, fictional drama.

After watching Dallas for one hour, I can turn off the TV and not worry about the Ewings. They can take care of themselves.

I’m not so sure about the members of our government. Their problems are bigger than Dallas. I worry about them.

Before I heard Dallas was coming back after 21 years off the air, I was depressed about my anticipated summer TV viewing. I had exhausted myself watching re-runs of every Law & Order episode. I was tired of The Golden Girls, even though I still laugh at them. I’d seen every episode of That 70’s Show at least three times. I don’t like any of the CSI shows…but, I was just about to start watching them anyway…because there was nothing else on.

Since I try to veer away from politics, sex and religion as topics of conversation, I had nothing to talk about. I don’t like to debate things with anyone. In the good old days, weather was a safe topic and Texas has plenty of that to talk about. But now when weather is mentioned, someone has to bring up global warming and the debate begins.

It’s hard for me to be sociable without something inane to talk about. Not discussing politics, sex, religion and weather had ruined my ability to be social. No one wanted to talk with me about those old TV re-runs. My social life suffered.

“Lots of men have tried to run roughshod over me. You can visit them in the cemetery.” __J.R. Ewing (That would have intimidated me. No discussion.)

But now…now Dallas is back and I have something to talk about again. My female friends are as delighted as I am with the return of J.R. and Sue Ellen and Bobby and whoever is his current wife and all the offspring and enemies they’ve acquired through the years.

Now we have something fun to gossip about…but it’s not really gossip if the people about aren’t real. So we don’t even have to feel guilty about all that trash talking we do.

 ”I’m really not an alcoholic.” __Sue Ellen Ewing (Oh, Sue Ellen honey, yes you are!)

Sometimes a little drama in life is entertaining, but only if it’s not my own. I’ll leave the drama to the Ewings. They’re really good at it.

“The world is littered with the bodies of people that tried to stick it to ol’ J.R. Ewing.” __J.R. Ewing (’nuff said.)

How utterly delightful!

 

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Posted in Aging Gratefully, Dallas TV show, Peggy Browning, Post 50, Relationships, Relationships after 50, women over 50

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