State of Mind

On October 29th, I will be 50-years-old. For many people, the big 5-0 is a tough step to take. In my case, I am just happy to still be here to celebrate another birthday! Afterall, I should have died of heart failure in 2002. That being said, people like me take each new day much more seriously than people who have never suffered major health problems.

A week ago, I took Larry and Adam (our guinae pigs) to Abigayle's 3rd grade classroom for a show and tell. All of the kids hurriedly gathered around to check "our boys" out. It seemed everyone had a question or comment to make about the pigs. In the background, one little boy asked me if I had any other "grandchildren" besides Abi. LOL! So far, God has not blessed us with any grandchildren. Though I do not consider myself to be the age of grandparents, I had to stop and think about what would give this boy the idea that I was too old to be Abigayle's mother. It didn't take me long to realize that my silver hair had made me look decades older than other parents of Abigayle's classmates. Bottom line, Stan and I are, by far, the oldest parents of the 2011-2012 class of the Wichita County Elementary School.

It sent me back into time about 12 years ago when my father-in-law mentioned that it was embarrassing to him when he was growing up because his parents were much older than the other parents of his classmates. I did not want my daughters to suffer the same anguish.

So now that I knew what the problem was, I needed to learn the solution and put it into motion. I decided that the first thing that needed to be done was to color my silver hair. I bought the color on Thursday and Leighlyn applied it to my hair last night. Mercy! What a difference I found when I looked at my "new" hair in the mirror! My hairstyle (or lack of) was next on the agenda. I returned to my hairdresser in Garden City today and let her have her way with my hair. I am so glad that I did! She did a great job!

Hair was not my only problem. When I was in high school and in my 20s and 30s, I refused to leave the house with no make-up on. At some point later on, I don't know if I decided that wearing cosmetics was just vanity or if I just got to the point where I didn't care anymore. Whatever the reason, my face went au natural.

Last Christmas and last summer, a friend gave me some high quality cosmetics that I just love! Unfortunately, I only wore them on special occassions. How dumb! If I had them, I should be using them. It takes less than 10 minutes for years of age to disappear from my face. I wore my make-up to Garden City today. My hairdresser who has done my hair for the past few years, mentioned to me that she had never seen my face "fixed up" before. The compliments that she gave to me really made me realize that I need to spend more time working on my exterior--not just my interior.

If you live in Leoti, chances are you know that I go to the store, etc in town without bothering to wear my better clothes. You see, it seems like I am always either cleaning the house or doing some other project in the house. Instead of dressing in average clothes, I choose to wear my grubby clothes that have paint, wood stain, etc on. It has never bothered me to be seen in these clothes around Leoti. I now realize, that I really need to clean up my act! I am going to start breaking my better clothes out of the closet and wear them whenever I am going to be in the public.

Neither of my grandmothers or one of my sisters would be caught dead with their hair in a mess, no make-up on their faces or in their work clothes anywhere but at home. It is high time for me to follow in their suit. I need to be a much better role model to my daughters than I have been for a long time.

I am thinking that if I continue to do this, reaching my 50th year will be much easier to accept than otherwise.

VLE-B