Monday ponderings . . .

 

Raise your hands if you wanted to be Marcia Brady! 

How about Lori Partridge?

 

Mary Richards? 

 

Cissy from A Family Affair?

 

Haley Mills?

  

Annette Funicello?

 

Sandra Dee?

 These were some of the role models of my childhood.  We won't talk about Aunt Bee (who I've turned into) or June Cleaver (who I try to channel).  These were the glamor girls of my pre-teen/teenage years.  They were feisty, smart, pretty, fashionable, fun, very well behaved for the most part, and they had the best clothes.  There were a couple who had some challenges in their personal lives I know, but their public personas were something that I looked up to.  Marcia got to meet Davy Jones! (I wanted to marry him.)  Lori Partridge's brother was Keith aka David Cassidy!  (drool worthy pin-up) Mary Richards had a great job, pretty clothes and a really cool apartment! Cissy had a gorgeous wardrobe and Uncle Bill. (Hubba hubba!) Haley lived in a magical world and had really cute clothes also! Annette was a member of the Micky Mouse Club and she had Frankie Avalon and fun on the beach!  And Sandra Dee . . .  what didn't she have?  Pretty clothes, fun on the beach, surfing, Troy Donahue and in her real life Bobby Darin. 

  

Don't get me started on Sally Field, Gidget and the Flying Nun.

When I was in elementary school, I can remember watching the kids in high school get off their school bus, and they seemed to be so cool, the girls so sophisticated and fashionable.  I know that the reality was probably quite different. I used to watch A Go Go '66 with Robbie Lane and the Disciples on Friday nights and dream about having gogo boots. 

  

I can remember watching American Bandstand when we could get it, but we all watched Canadian Bandstand to catch up on the latest music and dance steps.  For us it was on Saturday afternoons.  It was broadcast from Kitchener/Waterloo.  Some of the same kids would be there every week and I remember one particular boy in particular on it that I had a crush on and would hope that I would see each week.  

I don't know where I am going with this, except to say that we were all pretty innocent back then. These role models we looked up to were pretty good people, and set great examples for us for the most part. I don't remember anything being really nasty.  It really was a charmed era in so very many ways. At least it was for me.  I sometimes wonder who or what the kids of today have to look up to or forward to.  It must be pretty scary for them sometimes.  Its pretty scary for me sometimes and I've been around the block more than a few times! 

I had an idea of how my life was going to work out, and it hasn't worked out to be anywhere near that ideal that I had in my mind. 

 

I don't think anyone's could. 

All told though, I have had a very, very good life.  And I guess the best part of it is that its been real.  All of it.  The good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between. It hasn't been some romanticised ideal from someone else's imagination. Somewhere along the line my romanticised ideals took a hike and I was able to embrace the reality and to fall in love with that.  And as I sit here this morning I can recognise just how very, very blessed I have been and I am.  First of all to have had the luxury of having had that blessed childhood with all of its imaginations.  I was lucky to be able to dwell on things like that instead of being hungry, or afraid, or in a war zone, or in an abusive home, etc.  I was brought up in a country where I had the right to be me.  To have my own thoughts. To do my own thing. To be my own person. To make my own choices. To have my own rights and freedoms.  Free health care.  I have had free health care all of my life.  I have never had to make a choice between eating or going to the Doctor.  I have always had the right to vote in Democratic Elections. I've always been able to be proud that I am a woman.   I've always been able to worship my God freely as I choose to worship Him, or not worship as the case may be.  I've always had clean water to drink and I was educated from an early age until my late teens with no cost at all.  A free education.  Its a blessing we all in the Western World take for granted, and some of us even throw away.  I have always had the luxury of having a pet to bring extra joy into my life . . .  a cat or a dog, and oftimes both.  I've been safe from the elements, and always clothed adequately.  Maybe not fashionably, but that is a true luxury when many in the world have only rags to cover their bodies with, and some not even that. My babies came home from the hospital clothed and wrapped in blankets, to warm homes and lives of privledge.  Many others go home wrapped in newspaper because that is all that their mothers have, and even the newspaper is a gift. Many in the world don't have a choice about what they are going to eat, or even if they are going to eat.  I get to cook every day and enjoy a huge variety of options.  If I go to bed hungry, its a choice I've made and nothing else. To many in the world I, little old me . . .  would be the "ideal" person, living the "ideal" dream life.

It is a good thing sometimes to sit and count your blessings

where you find them, and never ever take them

for granted.

You never know when

you might lose them.

Instead of saying "Why me?" sometimes

we need to be asking ourselves 

"Why not me?"

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.°The greatest test of faith is when

you don't get what you want,

but still you are able to say

Thank you.

~Unknown   •。★★ 。* 。 

Spiritual Enlightenment 

 

In the kitchen today  . . .  Green Beans with Shallots, Lemon & Thyme.  Simply delicious. 

May your week ahead be filled with a multitude of blessings, may your cup runneth over.  Don't forget along the wy of your week,

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And I do too!