GenX

Under One Roof

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.

There’s a phase of life that ends before true empty-nesterhood begins. It’s the “under one roof” phase.

As a young mother, it’s hard to get to sleep at night until all your kids are home in their beds. You want the whole family under one roof – safe. This gets more challenging as your children grow up. They’re out with friends and it gets late. They say they’re on the way, but what if something happens? Sleepovers, camp and other things sometimes require you to go to sleep with your kids NOT under your roof, but in those cases, I always made sure the ringer on both the landline and my cell phone were turned on high. If someone called, I wanted to hear it.

The “under one roof” phase inevitably ends and you just have to accept it. It’s very hard at first. What if they’re not safe? What if there’s an accident? Eventually, with practice, you can get to sleep having no idea where your offspring are.

As Hillary Clinton once said, “having a child is like deciding to let your heart forever walk around outside your body.” Letting go of the “under one roof” phase is just another step in the process.

Freaky Friday

~ MaryG ~ 6 Comments

If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?

I think this may be a GenX thing: a question like today’s prompt automatically makes you think of the movie “Freaky Friday” that came out in 1977 with Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris.

It’s about a girl and her mother who wake-up in each other’s bodies on Friday the 13th and have to live life as the other one for the day. (It was remade in 2003 with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis.)

There’s something about the mother-daughter relationship that makes the premise of these films irresistible (to girls anyway). If only she got me.

When you’re young, nobody can bug you quite like your mother. It’s a special skill! But I assure you, nobody—and I mean nobody—is ever going to love you like she does.

At 58, I am very lucky to still have my mother (and father) with me on earth. I am just wrapping-up a nice visit with them in Florida.

Mom and me on Saturday night

Related post:

Honor Thy Mother

Stonework

~ MaryG ~ 17 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.
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I married a hard worker.

Our first house was a somewhat dilapidated antique outside of Boston. It had a “city yard” – about a quarter acre of rutted dirt and weeds. My husband Mario transformed it into an adorable garden and play area, complete with extensive stonework, including a patio and stone wall.

I take credit for none of it. He lifted all those rocks and pavers himself. Italians are known for their wonderful stonework. I think he got that gene. He also got the Italian “green thumb” gene.

My daughter driving her car on the stone patio, 1997ish
About 5 years later, my son on the same patio with the stonewall behind him
The patio was the perfect size for toddlers and their large plastic toys. I could watch them from my kitchen window.
Our late cat Kimba the White Lion on the stone wall
My husband grew all of these vegetables himself in that tiny yard one summer.

As for me, sometimes I paint my own fingernails.

Related post:

La Dolce Vita

The Big One

~ MaryG ~ 8 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?
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My biggest challenge in the next nine months is our national challenge: to try to make sure Donald Trump does not get re-elected President of the United States. If overturning Roe v Wade and staging a coup d’état was not enough to convince you that a second Trump term would be truly disastrous for both the United States and the world, then please get up to speed.

Free gift article from The Atlantic: The Danger Ahead

This is not a time to be shy about your political views or to sit on the sidelines and see what happens. It’s a Code Red, people. The simple act of handwriting postcards to likely voters in key districts has proven highly effective in the last two election cycles.

Over the next nine months I’ll be volunteering with Vote Foward and my local Indivisible group, along with a bunch of folks from my church.

Yes, Joe Biden is too old to be President. But the likely alternative, a second Trump term, would “instantly plunge the country into a constitutional crisis more terrible than anything seen since the Civil War.”

I don’t want to wake up on Wednesday, November 6th regretting that I didn’t do more.

Some church friends and me mailing our last batch of letters before the 2022 midterm elections

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Look for the Glimmers

Protest photos: then & now

GenX Mom Not Calm

Yeah, it’s politics

Life’s not fair…

Ear piercing

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

What advice would you give to your teenage self?

Fight mom on letting you have your ears pierced at the mall. Her ancient doctor is going to make yours uneven. Also, one hole in each ear is plenty! (You’re going to regret those extra piercings.) You were right to avoid tattoos.

Air travel

~ MaryG ~ 6 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What bores you?
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Even in ideal circumstances, air travel is “boring” at best. You arrive at the airport hours early to sit and wait to be herded onto a thin metal tube (uncomfortably close to scores of strangers—some with pets), only to wait even longer (as a strapped-in captive) to be launched into the sky for an undetermined length of time, during which you’ll definitely have to pee.

Throw in a snowstorm, a pandemic, turbulence, a baby, a maintenance delay, or God forbid – a connecting flight, and you’re really just asking for trouble. Heading to the airport soon. Wish me luck.

An animal’s tail poking through to my seat on a recent flight.
De-icing the wings: a familiar sight to many New Englanders
Boring can be beautiful

My Cosmo recipe

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite drink?
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I’m going to interpret the word “drink” in this prompt to mean “cocktail,” because nobody wants to read about how much I like water or Diet Coke, and I’ve already posted about my love of coffee and white wine.

When it comes to mixed drinks, I’m a vodka person. During the pandemic lockdown, I perfected my Cosmopolitan (Cosmo) recipe. Here it is:

1.5 oz Absolut Citron Vodka

1 oz Cointreau

1.5 oz unsweetened cranberry juice

Fresh squeezed juice of half a lime

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. After shaking, pour into chilled martini glass with lime wedge.

It’s not crazy strong, which I like. It’s especially good in summer. I keep a martini glass and a bottle of vodka in my freezer at all times.

Related posts:

Box of Wine

Coffee is King

Scent matters

~ MaryG ~ 2 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Who are your favorite people to be around?
View all responses

I love my family and enjoy being with them. And friends are so important too. I try to be a good friend.

But this question is making me think of people writ large. Why do I gravitate to some more than others?

There’s a group of about 100 people I see on a weekly basis (my fellow UU churchgoers), about 20 of whom I see twice a week (the choir members), and I do like being around some more than others. My favorites are the people who are engaging (they talk but also listen); smart but relatable (they go beyond small talk, but don’t lecture); funny but self-aware (they’ll make you laugh, but aren’t trying to be stand-up comics); and they smell good. The last one seems shallow, but honestly, some people smell better than others and I prefer being around the good smellers. Aging seems to contribute to some so-so smelling people, but we’ve got plenty of good smelling seniors, so that’s not a great excuse. Scent matters.

Ode to flip-flops

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

My feet don’t match. The women on both sides of my family have severe bunions. My genes, combined with too many pairs of pointy shoes in the 80s, led to me develop large, painful bunions by the time I was 25.

One day, in my mid-twenties, I had to cut short a walk home from work and hop on the T because my feet hurt so badly. That was it. I loved walking in Boston and I decided this was no way to live. I made the decision to go under the knife and get the worse bunion removed surgically (my left one). I figured I’d go back and get the other one done later.

Well, the pain was SO bad after the surgery, I never went back and got the right foot done. (I was in a big surgical boot for 6 months and then I had to have a screw removed from my newly straightened big toe.)

In the grand scheme of things, a bunion is pretty minor, but my right foot still causes me a lot of pain, especially when wearing any kind of a dress shoe. When I have to get dressed up for something, the dilemma is always the shoes. What shoes could I possibly wear with this outfit that won’t hurt? There really are no comfortable dress shoes for me.

Consequently, I have worn flip-flops to more occasions than I care to remember. I have gold ones, silver ones, sparkly ones, beaded ones, leather ones, plus the usual plastic/foam ones. Flip-flops are really the only shoes that don’t hurt at all.

So, here’s to my numerous pairs of flip-flops. They don’t hide my ugly bunion from the world, but at least they showcase a nice pedicure.

A fancy pedicure I got once. Also, I just discovered there’s a flip-flop emoji 🩴

My 50th Birthday

~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments

Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.

My dear friend Susan made my 50th birthday special. (She makes every occasion special.) Not only did she help me plan a dinner in a restaurant, but she also invited my guests back to her home afterwards. She and her lovely daughter created thoughtful touches like chocolate covered strawberries, a sign, and birthday confetti. I really felt special!

And then, on top of that, Susan gave me my first Apple Watch. A very generous and EXCITING gift! It was June 2015 and Apple had just come out with watches that spring. I remember they seemed so weird and futuristic at the time. I really didn’t understand what they were or how they worked, but it was so cool to have one of my own! It was silver with a white sport band. I’m sure I never would’ve bought one for myself (or I would’ve taken many more years to try one).

It was a very exciting gift and I ended up loving Apple Watches. I’ve upgraded to new models several times. As I’ve mentioned, I’m a good candidate for digital health products. I’m motivated to “close my rings” daily and I like getting the colorful little “medals” for special challenges. I was thrilled when Apple came out with the waterproof version, so I could wear it in the pool and get “credit.”

So, not only was it a generous and thoughtful gift, but I truly believe it’s helped me stay healthy in my fifties.

Thanks Susan. I love you!

My 50th birthday sign in Susan’s apartment
Special touches by Susan 💕

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