I was having a discussion with my daughter today about “nice” things.  Do you know what I mean?  Like an expensive purse, for instance.  In my generation, growing up we called it our “Sunday best”.  Things that you only wore to church, or pulled out for a party or a wedding.  That’s not a bad thing.  When we were kids, we were raised on a very tight budget and when my daughter was growing up, it was no different.  We didn’t even have a television in the house until she was about 4 or 5 and when we did it was a tiny little black and white TV.  I was dating a guy that finally got frustrated watching it and he walked out one Saturday morning after breakfast, said he’d be right back and came back with a color television set and that’s how we got our first color TV.

Shauna and I never minded not having a lot of extras in the house.  We had a lot of fun using our imagination and had a Smith Corona typewriter as entertainment.  We used to have it  permanently set up on the kitchen table and when we would walk by, we’d write little one line notes that would sometimes slowly grow into stories that were wildly funny over time.  We’d laugh hilariously as they strung together and guests would sometimes add their pieces to the stories as well.  We’d also take long drives and pick roads we had never been down before, especially ones that had rows of corn (yes, corn ) and make stories up and them.  We had moved from New York City to Lancaster, Pennsylvania and the country was quite a culture shock to us.  We had no idea that corn had… well, little corn feet!  They looked like they could run around on those little feet, so we would tell stories about how they had square dancing parties and when cars drove by, all the little corn stalks had to freeze in place so the ones that looked like they were out of the rows didn’t make it back to their place on time… almost like musical chairs.. hmmm… see what a little imagination does?  Oh, they also have very high pitches giggles and tickle you when they run across the path.

I digress, so back to nice things….

I use something because I like it.  Not because it has a name brand on it, or because it is leather, or because it isn’t leather.  Sooner or later, somebody is going to get upset because I’m using animal flesh.  Or maybe because it’s the latest trend or fits into a category or classification and makes me look like I come from a particular status. If I don’t use the latest, I upset somebody.. If I do, I upset some other group.  who cares?!  I don’t eat one particular diet or another.  I am generally annoyed with fitting into categories. It’s my body and it’s taken me many years to figure out what it needs and I’m still a work in progress…I will continue to work hard at my health, thank you very much – and I will listen to good tips, try new things, and treat my body like the temple that it is. Amen. I just wear what I want and eat what I feel is right for me.  And on the subject of messing “nice” things up?  Life is for living!!  Jeans are for wearing, homes are for living in.  Go on…walk on the carpet, touch the wall, let the children spill their drinks (or the cats as in my case)  Expensive purses are for being used, thrown around, used EVERY SINGLE DAY!  Will you buy a pair of nice shoes and not wear them so as not to scuff them up?  You can talk yourself right out of living if you think like that. I will wear my $150 boots to go grocery shopping if I please if it puts a smile on my face! I think everyone should get themselves a few nice things and then wear the heck out of them.  Oh.. and I have cats because I love them and they make me happy.  People are allergic, but they don’t live with me. I live with me.  Oh yea… I love people too.  So bring your Zyrtec when you come to visit because I love company.

You can’t please everyone in this life and this life can be short, or it can be long.  I don’t know the answer to that one for me, but I intend to enjoy some of life’s pleasures while I am here, be as healthy as I know how to be, not hurt anyone if I can help it, love everyone as best as I know how, show as much kindness to everyone and everything, wear some cool hats, play some music, listen to jazz and hopefully help few people along the way. Oh yeah… and smile… a LOT, even if I’m not feeling it at the time. I’ve found that if I start smiling, in a little while I’m really feeling it anyway and so do the people around me.

So go on… wear them shoes, put on your Sunday best, pull out the purse, put on a hat.. whatever it is and definitely, pull out your best smile!

Love –

me!