People often talk about the fear of dying but not enough about the joy of living. Life is a precious gift. We should like it to the hilt. We were created to be joyful. Get involved with as many people as you can. That's why I went to Helen Ostrye's 100th birthday party. I only knew her and her daughter-in-law Dorothy for sure. As it was, there was only one man I knew from the gang at McDonald's. John had gone to grade school with one of the daughters. That was a beginning. From there on, I just kept meeting people. I got to the party at 2:30 and left at 5 p.m. Nobody suffers that long. I really had a great time!
Another habit I have that makes life interesting is I talk to strangers. I've never really had a bad experience, but I thought of an experience I had last year. I had made up my mind that when I saw something complimentary about a woman, I was going to tell her. Why keep it a secret?
I was standing in the check-out line at Quality and this striking woman was ahead of me. She had on a blue cape. I could see long eye lashes and a beautiful complexion, and she had a stylish, short haircut. Her hair was naturally curly. She was a sharp lady! So I patted her on the shoulder and said, "I'd like to tell you what I see when I look at you." I then proceeded with all the things I have written above. She smiled all over the place and thanked me.
Then I said, "I've decided I'm not going to withhold my compliments. If I can make someone happy, I'm going to do it, and I hope they can pass it on." She agreed.
Well, then on Sunday, I was telling my son Dan about it during our Sunday phone call. His response was: "That's all well and good for you, but if I tried it, I'd probably get my face slapped." I hadn't thought of that. Come to think of it, I hadn't done it with men. As for Dan, he could get a slap or worse from a male, too! Sometimes you can't win.
Maybe this story is for women because they are stingy with compliments to other females. (My opinion).
An oncologist recently said if we have emotional support and spirituality, the body will take care of itself. This means we should concentrate on the positive instead of the negative. Certainly we spend more time living than we do dying. But of course, we spend more time in death (eternity) than we do in life. Take care of the present now, which will soon be your past. If you make wise choices, your future in death will be beautiful!
I found some cute things to laugh at. Read on:
Gramma went to see Little Johnny, her grandson. He gave her a big hug and said, "I'm so happy to see you, Gramma. Now Daddy can show us that trick he promised us."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, I heard Daddy tell Mommy that he would climb the walls if you came to visit us again!"
Here's another cute one:
A young lawyer had just opened up his firm. He saw someone coming and picked up the phone and pretended he was talking to a client. He motioned to the man to wait. Finally he hung up and asked the young man, "What can I do for you?"
"I'm here to install your phone."
Ouch!
A 35-year-old wife had changed her hair-do, her cosmetics and bought a new dress, all to look younger.
When her husband came home, she asked him how did he think she looked.
He answered, "Your hair looks like a teenager around 18, your skin looks like 21, and your figure - about 28."
Not a bad report. She thanked him.
"Wait a minute," he said. "I haven't added them up yet."
That last sentence cost him a new hair brush, a new window and a week of cold shoulder.
The lesson here is - quit while you're ahead, fellas.
Here's a question to think about: how far do you think you're going to go if you straddle the fence?
And here's one more piece of advice: "Watch out for shivers!"
Think about this one: "Mud thrown is ground lost." And don't forget some of it sticks to you.
A football coach asked a try-out if he could pass a football. His answer was, "If I can swallow it, I can pass it!" This is great - the hardest thing to give is - in! How true!
On a visit to the zoo a father and son stopped at the stork cage. The little boy asked his father, "How come he doesn't recognize me?"
Every man should work eight hours, sleep eight hours but not at the same time. Well, for now.
P.S. I'm looking for a home remedy for fruit flies and don't tell me to stop eating fruit! Also, my granddaughter is looking for skeleton keys. She's trying to earn extra money with craft items. I have no idea what she's going to do with these keys. I'm not a crafty woman.
Margaret Valone is a Fredonia resident. Send comments on this column to lifestyles@observertoday.com
