I love magazines. They are full of all kinds of neatness, useful and useless. I used to have subscriptions to several magazines many years ago while I was able to get them from Coke Points Rewards. I should clarify.... I like free magazines. I ain't paying those high dollar magazine prices when the dentist office has a nice stack awaiting my perusal dating from 2014.
One of my most favorite was Real Simple. It's got all kinds of organizing solutions porn, crisp clean rooms, and 101 ways to reuse an old coffee pod. Within the pages was another feature that wasn't usually boasted on the front cover which was an essay written about someone's personal life experiences. There were a few stories that I could relate to along with some presenting situations that I haven't ever thought of, all were very enlightening. Still to this day some of these essays pop into my head and I thought I would talk about them today. They are like little glimpses into the future that in the moment you just don't see it.
The first one I can't remember what the prime topic was. I think it may have been the loss of tradition and family. I only remember one line but it struck me.
"I remember when my grandmother stopped putting up a Christmas tree."
I was just dumbfounded. I thought how could a grandmother not put up a Christmas tree??! Isn't that one of their absolute deals?! As years rolled past from reading the essay I started noticing my own grandmother shrinking her Christmas decorating footprint to the point where in 2020 while we were sitting outside celebrating the holiday 6 feet apart she asked if I wanted to see her tree. I didn't want to go inside and us be next to each other in an enclosed space but she then said 'Oh, I can bring it out here!" It turned out to be this 6 inch tall spirally metal little tree that she decorated by shoving colorful pom poms into it. She was pretty proud of it. It now has me thinking of the reasons with the lessening in general. There's the practical one that I can attest to and that's holiday decorating is a lot of work. I can also attest to when you start having physical/balance issues where getting on a step ladder ends in you hitting the ground (been there 3 times over the last few months). And there's the emotional aspect where all the littles are grown ass adults and not as fun anymore. And again, I am easing into that with having an adult child. It's just something to ponder is all. The seasons of life and it's celebrations.
Another essay I have always held onto was written by a adult daughter who found herself caring for her mother who had Alzheimer's. She and her mother had never gotten along throughout their lives. The mother was actually quite mean and overbearing when she was in her right mind. However when she lost her mind, for the lack of a better phrase, she became a sweet docile person. The daughter grew closer to her mother and this end of life season became something unexpected. Talk about a terrible situation being turned into a oddly lovely one. This is one of those stories that I'm not there yet in my own life. I hope I never am to be quite frank whether it be a loved one inflicted or myself. Time will tell I guess.
The last essay I read was on something fun but still my brain at the point of reading was like "What?What?!" It was about a couple that had become empty nesters. Basically this couple were thrilled and loving life now that they don't have to set anymore good examples. They talked about when their adult kids visit and mom's making cereal for dinner... for herself. The kids can make their own damn bowl. The parents were now free to cuss and stay up late. Watch any garbage they want on TV. They had been pretending to be upstanding adults to be good role models for their kids, now they could forget all that nonsense. I'm telling you my mind was blown. I had an eight year old at the time of reading this so I was deep into the 'be a good role model' that I couldn't even understand. Now I'm realizing how exhausting it has been setting that example for years. I'm so there wanting to let that 'job description' go. I'll say that over the past few years I've been quickly transitioning to this along with me truthfully always being a bit more of an edgy parent anyhow so who knows, maybe I wasn't the good role model I was trying so hard to be. Regardless, I look forward to spending my weekends watching murder shows and eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
