You Got The Love

I am noticing a trend in some of the blogs I run across.  It is so disturbing because they are blogs written by much younger women than moi...they are blogs that actually bash my beloved series, Sex And The City and my even more beloved, Carrie Bradshaw!  Gasp...take a minute...the horror!!!

In my ever changing moods I don't understand the whining.  These blogs state that Carrie lied, that the series damaged a certain age group because well, whine, whine, whine, they all picked up, moved to Manhattan and what???  Their lives were NOT a non-stop Sex And The City episode?  Are you kidding me?  You are going to take such a sacred show to so many of us in MY age group and cry a river because you thought all it took was to move to the big city and voila....you would be living the life???

The latest whine fest is an upcoming, off Broadway production called, Hot Mess In Manhattan..all derived from a Carrie Bradshaw lied sort of premise...



Really??  Okay...this was my last straw!!

This show meant more to me and women and some of my closest friends than any other show in the history of television!  It was a liberating, in your face, fashion love-fest.  It gave us strong women, strong personalities, a love of the bond of friendship, a love of the bond with the city, a love of the bond of men and a very liberating take on a love of the bond of just plain, sex!  Never did the show promise a sparkling fairy tale to the droves of women that decided to take to Manhattan!!  For my age group, it was a great tale!  And, I dare say, a tale that some of us could actually achieve with hard work, years of hard work, lots and lots of hard work, never ending blood, sweat and tears.  Not a ticket to arrive in the city, a smile on our face and a promise to live the good life.  My age group knew and knows that nothing comes easy, we worked and worked and then worked more for those Manolo heels or those Jimmy Choo heels or that fab bag or apartment or house or any other life that we set out to carve for ourselves.  We knew the show was a dream, an escape from reality, a very fun outlet for many of us on Sunday evenings!  Did we REALLY think that we would all attain THAT certain couture outfit or THAT specific black bra.  No.  But, we could certainly find the next best thing that fit the illusion and still have the satisfaction that we had a similar look but not THE look because let's face it...none of us had the $20,000 smackers to plunk down on the ballgown that Carrie wore.  Nor did she.  We knew that.  It was OUR fairy tale.  Let us be happy with it.  None of us go around whining because oops....poor me, I didn't get the Carrie Bradshaw lifestyle.  Newsflash.....it was JUST a show.

So, in Carrie's words to the one time lover, Aiden....Please, just shut up!!!

Let Carrie and ther girlfriends live.  Go start your own lives, make your own way and stop blaming, Carrie Bradshaw for your non-Manhattan life.  Go burn your own path, make your own way, make your own name.  That was the spirit of the show....Now, just go....

Time, Time, Time...(lyric from Hazy Shade of Winter,Simon and Garfunkel)

The summer is slipping by so quickly!!  The Co-Ed returned home in early May after her freshman year at college.  It seemed like we had a whole lot of time looking at the months that were ahead of us.  I am now looking at the calendar and noticing that we are midway through July!

In my ever changing moods, time seems to just move by at rapid speed, these days.  Seriously, where does the time go?  I have started the dorm lists, again.  You know, the supplies that they never think they need, want, will ever use?  But, that they are actually glad to have once they are deep into their campus life?  But, it just seems like I was doing this for her freshman year.  We were unsure, scared, nervous, wanted to make sure all bases were covered.  Overbought things that never got used so those items are on my what NOT to even mess with list, this time.  It is funny how just one year makes such a difference.  Time...it is our friend.

Last year, this same time, I was a wreck.  I was buying out places like Bed, Bath and Beyond, Ikea, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot.  By the time we were packed and heading down the road for moving in day, we looked like we were taking triplets off to college.  How did we know?  We didn't.  This year, I do.  This year I am the seasoned college parent.  I am now watching the first time freshman parents freaking out, buying out the stores, lists in hand.  I would like to offer them advice but I don't want to intrude on their frantic trips to the stores.  This year, I know to make the lists, go and begin purchasing items, a bit at a time, pack as you go, get the rest of the stuff out of the storage bins and we will be rockin' and rollin' down the road, again, in August.

This year, I will be the calm mom, all smiles and helpful, moving the gear onto the sorority floor of the co-ed's dorm.  Last year, I was the mom full of nerves, sick stomach, clutching a box of tissues.  I was full of doubt, full of worry, full of tears.  Freshman move in day was really just torture.  The college had it all down to a science, and in hindsight, I can see why they had the parents gather in a large auditorium, handed out tisses and notecards, and gave you 45 minutes of slide shows and sappy music to cry your eyes out, write meaningful notes to your freshman, and then go back to the kids to say goodbye.  I mean, cry a river...that was me!!  You could tell the first time parents compared to the parents who had done this, before.  They were looking at their watches, hoping to get the heck out of Dodge while the first timers were clinging to any and all last minute times we had with our kids.

But, freshman year was great for the co-ed, she pledged a sorority (my old sorority) and she is at my old campus.  So, this all made things a bit easier on my worry scale.  She made friends, learned how to manage on her own, came home occassionally, and with each visit, I saw her maturing and becoming more and more independent.  The summer came so quick that it was hard to believe she was heading back home.  Because, well, something else happens when they are away.  The mom, me, myself....the mom grows and becomes independent of the old life.  I had two business ventures in full swing and I just really let myself take off.  Time was all that I had, now.  Time was now a good thing!  My days were crammed with time with my bread business and time building my clothing boutique.  I became me, again.  I mean, I have always been me but I was now not someone's mom sitting at games or dance lessons or 4H meetings.  I was totally free to be me!  I was afraid with both of us growing in new ways, we would totally clash on her first summer home.  But, no.  Not at all.

I come and go and tend to business, she comes and goes with friends and her job, J comes and goes.  We all sometimes have dinner or breakfasts as a family but more often, not.  We are all crazy busy so many days we are all just running out the door with a quick hello or hug.  But, this is what, as parents, we hope to accomplish and see.  This independence, this free spirit.  What the parent didn't realize is that in all of this time, the parent also became the independent free spirit.  Who knew that time would be our friend?

Since You've Been Gone

Well, well, well....who do we have knocking at the blogging door? 

I have been doing some much needed computer clean up work...you know, cleaning out old files, deleting old email contacts, cracking up over old pictures, unfriending silent/train wreck/stalker like "friends" on Facebook, looking for lost documents...the usual ho hum work that occassionally needs to be done.  Anyway, in the midst of my cleaning, I started through my Favorites, and what did my eye find?  Yes, you guessed it, this old blog.

In My Ever Changing Moods, I decided to start from the beginning and read.  I kept smiling and laughing and remembering that girl that decided to blog about the next steps in her life.  The paths she would conquer, the roads she would travel, the new life she would lead once her one and only went off to make her way in collegiate land.  I loved every minute of my reading.  I had forgotten so much of what had been written and was astounded at just how far this girl had come!  It has been over a year since my last blog post...a LIFETIME in blogging land!!  So much has changed in my life, in my co-ed's life, in my journey, in the blogging world, itself!

Blogs have come so far from when I started my blogging journey.  Most resemble sleek and glossy pages of magazines with pictures of fashion, food, cars, kids, every single thing under the sun.  The more I read the pages of my blog, I remembered how much I loved exploring my days, my thoughts, my feelings, the changes my life was taking.  I decided that for as high tech as life has become, I still have an old school heart and soul that likes to blog just for the sake of writing a blog.  So, now that I've got the old writing bug, back, what better time to start up, again?  Do people read me, do people care, am I looking for an audience...I can't answer that but I know that all I want to do is to bring old school blogging back.  I have explored many roads since our last chat and I look forward to my continued adventures in my ever changing moods.

Get comfy, get ready, or run for the hills and block my fan page on Facebook.  Since I've been gone, much has changed, and I am sure you will be on the edge of your seats, just waiting to hear what a middle aged, empty nester, (are those REALLY terms that I am now using to describe myself??), has been doing with her life, her thoughts, her time...

So, cheers my lovelies!  Let's get this cocktail party started...