MOTTO
FOR 2008
Don't be
afraid that your life will end,
be afraid that it will never begin.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Women’s
Wisdom
Nancy’s Growing and Knowing
Sharon's Goings and Showings
WOW!
Forum
WOW!
to WOW!
Websites of Interest
Closing Notes
*~~~*~~~*~~~*
Women’s Wisdom:
"The best day of your life is the one on which you
decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No
one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours - it is
an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the
quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.”
- Author Unknown
“Essentially what happens when you begin to do what you love
is that you get a new employer.”
- Sarah
Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but
by the moments that take our breath away.”
-
Hiliary Cooper
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the
intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well
preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in
one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up,
totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO what a ride!'
- Author
Unknown
*~~~*~~~*~~~*
Nancy’s Growing and Knowing:
Have you seen the movie, The Bucket List? If you have, then
you already know the title asks, “What do we really want to
do before we kick the bucket?” I expected lots of laughs.
Well, sure enough, I laughed until my sides ached and tears
rolled down my face and well, you know what else, don’t you?
I didn’t expect tears of the other kind, but they were there
too—lots of them. The whole movie was so darn real. Joy,
sadness, endings that seemed like new beginnings…….
A few days after we saw the movie, several of us got
together to share our bucket lists. I thought long and hard
about things I could control—that I could really do. While I
was thinking, I realized my list was very different that
what I would have made 10 or 20 or more years ago. Today’s
list is so simple, all within my control. I want to “live
out-loud,” my short-hand way of saying I want to really live
every minute of whatever time remains. The quote: “sliding
in, body all used up, hollering, ‘Woohoo, what a ride’”,
says it well.
Finally, I understand that my life is my choice. After the
chaos, the brokenness, the changes of 2006 and much of 2007,
I understand so much of that misery was a self-fulfilling
prophesy of the loop of images running through my mind. What
a joy it is to drop all that and start playing a new main
feature. All I had to do was realize I not only could, but I
deserved to change my picture. I’ve dropped oughtas,
shouldas and gotas in favor of wantas. I keep thinking,
“What do I really wanta do?” I’ve made a lot of
discoveries—not the least of which is that even house
cleaning is a wanta if I wait long enough! And no, I won’t tell you how
long that period is!
Many of you figured this out much earlier in life. Some may
not have it understood yet. For me, it happened just last
October when I decided to risk doing life my way. Before I'd
lived it the way I thought was the right way, or the way I
thought someone else wanted me to do it, even the way a 67
year old woman should do it. I knew it was the right
decision, just scary. It was so different from what I’d done
in the past, when I tried to please most every one else. I
expected mighty reverberations from this seemingly selfish
decision. There have been reverberations, and so far,
they’re all good!
The best change is the new vision for WOW! It’s evolving into the dream I’ve written in my
journal for months. I kept saying, “I want to travel with a
purpose.” Now that purpose is here—to find fun and
affordable travel opportunities to pass on to all of you.
So many of us love to travel, but! We’re working hard to
give you information that will give you a new picture in
place of that but. We’ve chosen Fiesta, which has been
happening in San Antonio for over 100 years, as an event to
test our theory—that affordable and fun travel for us is
possible.
In 2008, Fiesta is April 18 through 27. We tackled lodging
first, knowing that prices sometimes double or triple during
Fiesta. Well, believe it or not, we found a ‘suite’ deal.
It’s easy to get to, close to downtown and the river, on the
trolley line and near most of the festivities. Even has a
frig and micro and breakfast provided, so you don’t have to
eat all your meals out. That’s real savings. Plus there’s
two double beds and a couch that makes a bed, so if three
share the room, the price is great.
Sharon and I are eating our way through many restaurants.
It’s a hard job, but somebody’s got to do it. We are putting
together a list of good-to-great, low cost restaurants.
We realize no one will stay all of Fiesta. There are about
100 events during the week plus an extra weekend. We’re
asking that you come for as long as you want, but please be
here Sunday and Monday, April 20 and 21. (If you can stay
over through Tuesday, it’ll be even better.) Rates are
cheaper, it will be less crowded and, drum roll please, we
will film our fun during Sunday and Monday. We hope to use
this film to break into the TV Travel market and you will
have a starring role.
Click here now Find all the details for Fiesta in San
Antonio, April 20-22.
Not long ago, I asked one dear friend, who traveled the
world when she could and because of it has less money for
her non-traveling older age, if she had any regrets? Would
she do it differently? Her answer was immediate—loud and
clear! “I’d do it all again in a heartbeat! My memories are
my most valuable possessions.”
So let’s give a cheer for skidding in sideways, chocolate in
one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up,
totally worn out and screaming 'Woo hoo, what a ride!'
Questions? Email
nancy@wiseolderwomen.com
*~~~*~~~*~~~*
Sharon’s
Goings and Showings:
It has
been said, "Life is all about the journey". It is my belief
that the statement is right on. When we add laving friends,
our journey becomes magical. Let’s never get too old to
play.
If you are interested in travel, but don't want to go alone
or can’t afford those expensive tours, save money and have
more fun by finding someone who likes to travel. Sound
difficult? It’s not. Finding travel buddies is like making a
friend on the playground. Remember being a little girl? It
wasn't hard to find someone to play with, was it? All you
had to do was ask! The worst thing that could happen was for
them to say no, but if you never asked—well, we all know the
end of that story.
The same thing can work to find a travel buddy. The first
time I went to Europe, I asked three girlfriends to go. One
was a best friend and the other two were friends, just not
in the best friend category. All three said, "YES"! They
really didn't know each other, so we all got together. After
our first meeting, we knew it was a go. My point
is...........Don't be afraid to ask other women if they
would like to travel. The first time may feel risky—do it
anyway!
I think I knew Nancy about a day when I asked her if she
liked to travel. We started talking about going to
Spain....and we ARE GOING to Spain for an entire month in
October. And it is NOT going to break us or the bank! And we
are going to share what we find with you.
More information to follow in future newsletters. If you
have a questions please feel free to contact me at:
sharon@wiseolderwomen.com
*~~~*~~~*~~~*
WOW!
Forum:
From Nancy Mecaskey:
I am really enjoying Wow! What a treat! I'm sending you
something I wrote a few years ago after someone, trying to
flatter me, called me "young lady."
Don’t Call Me Young
By Nancy Mecaskey
I am old
and I love it.
Don’t try to flatter me by telling me I look young or act
young or have a young heart. I have outgrown my youth.
Young thinks climbing mountains is mandatory.
And sitting in the yard watching birds is boring.
Young gets up to alarm clocks.
Old wakes up slowly and lies in bed watching Good Morning
America for as long as she likes.
Young follows the rules to get ahead and make an impression.
Old has only a few rules to follow—enjoy life, appreciate
everything, indulge your passions and follow your heart.
Young is busy.
Old is free.
Young thinks it’s important to be beautiful.
Old knows it’s better to be interesting.
Young dresses in the latest fashion.
Old wears what’s comfortable.
Young tries to keep control.
Old knows she never had it in the first place.
Young lives in the future and misses the precious moments
now.
Old lives now because the future is uncertain and she knows
the present is precious.
Young worries and has doubts.
Old accepts.
Young fears getting old.
What a shame.
From
Nancy Schmidt:
Thanks
for all the laughter today. I loved Sharon Kassernans
article on her week of training given to her as a gift. Also
the article about living with your kids when you are old and
bringing them as much joy as they brought you, which I have
seen somewhere before. I laughed and cried.
I signed up for your newsletter before but I'm not getting
it so I am going to sign up again.
Nancy's Note: If you change email addresses, please
remember to resubscribe. And if you don't get the newsletter
around the middle of each month, your subscriber has not let
it go through and you will be taken off the subscriber list
automatically. Just go to the website and resubscribe. You
might consider giving your email provider a word or two
about deciding who and who doesn't come to your email inbox.
From Shirley Haight:
Count me in for Fiesta, I lived in SA in 1954 and
experienced the Fiesta and gala's for the first and only
time, I think it's time for doing it again. I'm so glad you
have a second friend in SA, looking forward to meeting her,
what would life be w/o our friends.
Your new idea for travel sounds good, I hope I can
participate.
Always love the newsletter.
More from Shirley:
"Is it old in here-- or is it just me?"
Denial--the rejection of truth.
Old--far along in time. (Such as past sixty)
Am I old? Yes I am, old and bold and non-apologetic.
Only in America is getting old a no-no. When did this
happen?
It happened when Madison Ave hatched the idea that there was
a multi-billion dollar industry in keeping us young. (See
Naomi Wolfe's book "The Beauty Myth.") I swear, some of us
will fall for anything, won't we? Mutilate our bodies, put
chemicals on our fingernails till the nail bed is destroyed,
throw up, take laxatives, starve ourselves and for what! If
you are old, you are old, forget about it! Accept it, let
your boobs hang down, flop them all around, who cares???
I loved my twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties and
now my seventies.
I worked hard in my lifetime, first waiting on tables,
feeding two young children, then marrying again and doing
whatever I could to help out the family income. Getting up
at five am every morning including Saturdays for twenty
years to deliver the mail. Then another six years at The
Methodist Home for Children, getting up at four-thirty so I
could have an hour alone before activity started. As I look
back I would love to have one more day at the Post Office
dealing with the most wonderful people in the world. I would
love to have one more time to run up the stairs at the Daisy
Meredith Home Unit to quell a fight between two of the girls
or boys. But the truth is, been there done that.
As hard as it was, it was all worth it for today in my old
age I have the memories. I have time to squander. I can
read, watch TV, go shopping, visit neighbors, go to
meetings, talk on the phone and write to my heart’s content.
I never had this till I got old. In old age I get to learn
how to pace myself, to control not only my temper, but my
thoughts. I found out that thinking causes cancer. I thought
myself right into a tumor in my uterus, an apt place
considering what I was thinking about. All that experience
got me where I am today and I wouldn't change a thing. Old
age is when you get to that place in life where you know it
took all of the experiences to get where we are today. I was
fighting and trying to change the world when all I needed
was to change myself.
There are books galore on ageing and I may have read them
all. But, if they are not written by someone old they are
not authentic, trust me. You can't learn how to age well
from a book. It does help to watch someone you admire and
ask her how she got to where she is. If you're lucky and she
knows and is honest she will answer you with one of these:
that she's not old, which is a lot of crap. Or, she will
tell you that it just happens, no secret to it, hang around
long enough and you will get it. Getting old is not a
disease, as our culture would have us believe, but like
death, it's a part of living.
I overheard a young person ask another young person if she
thought old people smell funny? Her young counterpart said,
“No.” Guess who will have the hardest time getting old?
CLUE? It sure won't be the one that said no!
Sometimes as I listen to older men and women discuss their
children, asking why they don't come around more often, I
ask them if it could be fear? Could it be? If you see caring
children checking on their parents, staying in their lives,
they most likely don't have this fear. However, if they
don't stay in their parent’s lives, it could be they see
themselves in you twenty years from now and are scared to
death? (Just a theory of mine)
YES, it is old in my place: you will see handicapped rails,
extra high toilets, Velcro, small spaces, less and less of
every thing and it is just fine!
From Jena Roberson:
As usual, another great newsletter. Seems we just keep
growing and growing and that is great.
If you and Sharon can figure out a way to travel without it
costing an arm and a leg, I sure would be interested.
(Nancy’s Note: Consider it done! Just get yourself ready
to go!)
*~~~*~~~*~~~*
WOW!
to WOW!
From Janice Holloway:
RE: THE ICE CREAM CONE
Only women of a certain era will fully appreciate this....
true story.
A Michigan woman and her family were vacationing in a small
new England town where Paul Newman and his family often
visited. One Sunday morning, the woman got up early to take
a long walk. After a brisk five-mile hike, she decided to
treat herself to a double-dip chocolate ice cream cone. She
hopped in the car, drove to the center of the village and
went straight to the combination bakery/ice cream parlor.
There was only one other patron in the store. . . Paul
Newman, sitting at the counter having a doughnut and coffee.
The woman's heart skipped a beat as her eyes made contact
with those famous baby-blue eyes. The actor nodded
graciously and the star struck woman smiled demurely. Pull
yourself together! She chides herself. You're a happily
married woman with three children, you're forty-five years
old, not a teenager!
The clerk filled her order and she took the double-dip
chocolate ice cream cone in one hand and her change in the
other. Then she went out the door, avoiding even a glance in
Paul Newman's direction. When she reached her car, she
realized that she had a handful of change but her other hand
was empty. Where's my ice cream cone? Did I leave it in the
store? Back into the shop she went, expecting to see the
cone still in the clerk's hand or in a holder on the counter
or something. No ice cream cone was in sight.
With that, she happened to look over at Paul Newman. His
face broke into his familiar warm friendly grin and he said
to the woman, “You put it in your purse.”
From Sharon Kasserman:
When you have a 'I Hate My Job' day, try this:
On your way home from work, stop at your pharmacy, go to the
thermometer section and purchase a rectal thermometer made
by Johnson &Johnson. Be very sure you get this brand. When
you get home, lock your doors, draw the curtains and
disconnect the phone so you will not be disturbed. Change
into very comfortable clothing and sit in your favorite
chair. Open the package and remove the thermometer.
Carefully place it on a table or a surface so that it will
not become chipped or broken. Now the fun part begins. Take
out the literature from the box and read it carefully. You
will notice that in small print there is a statement:
'Every Rectal Thermometer made by Johnson & Johnson is
personally tested and then sanitized'.
Now, close your eyes and repeat out loud five times, 'I am
so glad I do not work in the thermometer quality control at
Johnson & Johnson.'
From oh darn, I lost the name of the wise woman who sent
this. Please contact me and I’ll give you credit. Thanks.
My Wish for You in 2008
May peace break into your house and may thieves come to
steal your
debts. May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for
$100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter
assault your
lips! May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires
and may
happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be
that of joy.
May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple
words:
May 2008 be the best year of your life!!!
From Pat Gordon:
GIRLS IN
MY CIRCLE (and I am blessed to have them)
When I was little, I used to believe in the concept of one
best friend. And then I started to become a woman.
And then I found out that if you allow your heart to open
up, you will be shown the best in many friends.
One friend is needed when you're going through things with
your partner.
Another friend is needed when you're going through things
with your parents.
Another will sit beside you in the bleachers as you delight
in your children and their activities.
Another when you want to shop, share, heal, hurt, joke, or
just be.
One friend will say, 'Let's cry together,' another, 'Let's
fight together,' another, 'Let's walk away together.'
One friend will meet your spiritual need, another your shoe
fetish, another your love for movies, another will be with
you in your season of confusion, another will be your
clarifier, another the wind beneath your wings.
But whatever their assignment in your life, on whatever the
occasion, on whatever the day, or wherever you need them to
meet you with their gym shoes on and hair pulled back, or to
hold you back from making a complete fool of
yourself........
Those are your best friends.
It may all be wrapped up in one woman, but for many, it's
wrapped up in several.....one from 6th grade, one from high
school, some from the college years, a couple from old jobs.
On some days your mother. On some days your neighbor. On
others, your sisters, cousins. And on some days, your
daughters.
From
Janice Holloway:
WORRY
Is there a magic cutoff period when offspring become
accountable for their own actions? Is there a wonderful
moment when parents can become detached spectators in the
lives of their children and shrug,
"It's their life," and feel nothing?
When I was in my twenties, I stood in a hospital corridor
waiting for doctors to put a few stitches in my daughter's
head. I asked,
"When do you stop worrying?" The nurse said,
"When they get out of the accident stage." My Dad just
smiled faintly and said nothing.
When I was in my thirties, I sat on a little chair in a
classroom and heard how one of my children talked
incessantly, disrupted the class, and was headed for a
career making license plates. As if to read my mind, a
teacher said, "Don't worry, they all go through this stage
and then you can sit back, relax and enjoy them." My dad
just smiled faintly and said nothing.
When I was in my forties, I spent a lifetime waiting for the
phone to ring, the cars to come home, the front door to
open. A friend said, "They're trying to find themselves.
Don't worry, in a few years, you can stop worrying. They'll
be adults." My dad just smiled faintly and said nothing.
By the time I was 50, I was sick & tired of being
vulnerable. I was still worrying over my children, but there
was a new wrinkle. There was nothing I could do about it. My
Dad just smiled faintly and said nothing. I continued to
anguish over their failures, be tormented by their
frustrations and absorbed in their disappointments.
My friends said that when my kids got married I could stop
worrying and lead my own life. I wanted to believe that, but
I was haunted by my dad's warm smile and his occasional,
"You look pale. Are you all right? Call me the minute you
get home. Are you depressed about something?"
Can it be that parents are sentenced to a lifetime of worry?
Is concern for one another handed down like a torch to blaze
the trail of human frailties and the fears of the unknown?
Is concern a curse or is it a virtue that elevates us to the
highest form of life?
One of my children became quite irritable recently, saying
to me, "Where were you? I've been calling for 3 days, and no
one answered I was worried."
I smiled
a warm smile. The torch has been passed.
*~~~*~~~*~~~*
Whoa!
Do not even
think about
missing Mrs.
Hughes.
You're gonna LOVE her!!
*~~~*~~~*~~~*
Websites of Interest:
WOW! Wise Older Women! website is:
www.wiseolderwomen.com
Learn about WOW!’s origins, subscribe to our newsletter and
get the details for the coming travel events.
From Pat Gordon:
If you
have children, I would expect you'll want them to see this
too ! Then, if you are fortunate to still have your parents,
go and visit them this week and give them a big hug.
(Nancy’s Note: Before you click on this, get your tissue.
It’s worth it!)
http://parentswish.com/site01/big.html
From Georgia Phillips:
Here’s my philosophy. Now you know why my place is never
picture perfect and meals at my table would not rate the
Gourmet magazine, ever.
http://digbig.com/4wkbx
From Shirley Haight:
Thank God my work required comfortable shoes, other wise I
would have all these ailments. If you did wear high heels,
check this out:
http://tinyurl.com/2x7o2g
From Sharon Kasserman:
This is a hoot. Be prepared to laugh long and hard.
(Nancy’s translation: Visit the potty before
clicking!)
http://www.geekoffice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=643&Ite
From Marcy Barnes:
http://www.votechooser.com/
You might find this interesting - answer 10 questions at and
find out which presidential candidate is most similar to
you!
*~~~*~~~*~~~*
Wise Older Women!
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