When people say I look good for my age I feel like I’ve been given an illicit prize. [Read more…]
The Bad Old Good Old Days
What if you had to use the bathroom in a hurry?
Every now and then I get an email from a Boomer waxing rhapsodic about the good old days and lamenting the disappearance of nickel candy and the ability of kids to play outside without being kidnapped.
These emails can only have been composed by men, because here’s what I remember:
*Sanitary belts that slipped around and chaffed your behind (because they hadn’t invented that post-it note adhesive yet)
*Garter belts, because pantyhose hadn’t been invented yet
*Girdles were required, because a decent woman didn’t jiggle unless she was in a Dean Martin movie.
*White-out and carbon paper.
*Men were bosses and women were grateful (the series Mad Men is not exaggerated)
*Women weren’t welcome as police or firefighters, astronauts, or commercial pilots (but we were welcome to work as a “stewardess” if we were pretty, single, and didn’t go over a maximum age or weight limit, in which case we were fired.)
*Using the designation “Ms.” often earned you a sneer, because it was clear evidence you were one a them bra-burners.
*Sports were for guys, cheerleading was for girls
I’m so happy to be doing all these dishes by hand while wearing high heels!
*We didn’t go to the gym. We watched Jack LaLanne on TV, except for a privileged few women who could afford to go to Venus deMilo women’s exercise salons.
And my personal favorite: at my job in a public school district, the union contract permitted new fathers to take three days’ paid Paternity Leave but new mothers received no equivalent (when I pointed out the unfairness of this, my fellow administrators teased me. Then they got annoyed.)
Next time I get one of those geezer emails I think I’m going to send them my list. You can add to it. What do you remember about the Bad Old Good Old Days?
Four Great Survival Skills
Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
One of the cool things about getting older is you recognize wisdom. You learn to separate the faddish bloviators from the truly wise people. [Read more…]
What Social Media Do You Use?
I listened to a podcast today about social media as a marketing tool for small business. The two young guys explained it all very well, but they kept snickering about how “even grandmas are using it now.” It being Facebook, or Twitter, or LinkedIn, or Skype, or YouTube, or Google+.
And it kind of pissed me off.
Because I’m a grandmother. Beyond that, I’m a former webmaster, I have two blogs, I’m active on eight social networking sites, I get my morning news online and I know my way around a Kindle. I teach a class for new bloggers and I was just asked by a national women’s organization to develop a webinar on social networking. Seems the membership wants to learn how to promote their artistic and literary works online. I’m pretty sure they’re all grandmas too.
Ah, well. I’m not going to fret over the young guys. I have a more important mission, and I’m hoping you can help me. If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably from the middle-aged-and-older demographic I so cherish. Would you do me a favor and tell me what social media do you use? I would appreciate it, and it will help me develop my class for that same demographic.
Thanks so very much.
- My mom on the computer with Bill.
What If We Didn’t Consider Aging a Problem?
Rossellini younger
The world is a magical place limited to some extent by our low expectations. Today while I was meditating these ideas bubbled up: [Read more…]
The Opposite of a Bucket List
You know what a Bucket List is: that list of the things you feel you absolutely must do before you die.
By definition, that would have to be one heavy list. First of all, it ends with your death, and second, there’s probably stuff on it like sky diving (Nanci can cross that off hers) and start a literacy program and reconcile with that icky family member you’ve been avoiding for the past fifty years.
Well, I’m tired of the pressure. Life is hard enough without having a giant existential To Do list, so I’ve decided to rebel.
I’ve decided to start a “F*** It” List.
On this list, I have itemized all the things I’m not going to do, ever. I’m having so much fun with my list. Every time I add something, my shoulders relax, like I just had a good massage, or therapy.
This list has another fabulous purpose: cleaning out your inbox. Like the other day I was doing that, and there was a stack of recipes I was planning to try. Except I found myself thinking F*** It. And I threw them in the trash.
It felt so good that I figured I’m on to something.
Here are two things people (starting with Mom) have always said about me:
You work too hard.
You worry too much.
Not anymore, girlfriends! Because I have discovered the F*** It List.
Ahhhhhh.
Go ahead, try it. But first, tell us, what would you put on your very own F*** It List?
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