One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 34

#34 – “Always wear a slip. You don't want anyone seeing through your skirt. That looks cheap.” (Photo - Me, my sister Honey and mom. Mom and I in suits and hats, gloves and corsages, on our way to Europe - 1958)

Admonitions to not “look cheap,” is a reoccurring theme in the one hundred things my mom taught me a million times, but I have a little trouble wrapping my head around the concept of "cheap." Is that like prostitute cheap or like Wal-Mart cheap. I’m not sure, but knowing mom, I think that looking cheap is the antonym of looking classy. But then do we all define classy the same? I define classy as self-assured, smart, accomplished, courteous and respectful in all situations. I suspect that others, including mom, define it more by the way someone dresses.

So, if not wearing a slip and therefore revealing what’s under your skirt is cheap, let’s examine that. The evolution of my underwear-wearing is very upside down, and circular. When I was young and solid and would have looked good in a burlap bag, I wore just about every piece of underwear available – bra, panties, girdle, hose and slip. Now, when I need all the help I can get to keep it all contained, I do good to put on a bra. Except of course when I want to look better than I really do. In those instances, I have an arsenal of garments scientifically designed to contain and smooth out virtually everything from the tops of my shoulders to my ankles. So what the hell? Click on Read More

100 Things I Want To Tell My Children And Grandchildren, #35

Books Can Change Your Life

I’m probably doing something terribly illegal here, but when I saw the article in today’s New York Times, The Book That Changed My Life, I read every single one of the stories and was so glad.  I was also reminded of the book that changed my life, and I knew I wanted “Books Can Change Your Life” to be my #34 of the 100 Things I Want To Tell My Children And Grandchildren. 

The World’s Great Religions was one of those coffee table Time-Life books so popular during the 50’s, the size and heft of a bag of cement and chocked full of colorful pictures. It talked about the ten or so most highly practiced religions of the world, and as a six-year-old I remember thinking, “Where are the Baptists?” I had no idea that come Sunday morning everyone in the world didn’t put on their best garb, grab the covered dish out of the oven, and head over to their Methodist or Baptist Church for Sunday school then church.

But in the book there were dark-skinned women in iridescent saris, cows being worshiped, rooms full of prostrate praying men and no women, cathedrals draped in gold, men with curls instead of sideburns, and statues with many arms and one foot in the air as though dancing. Who were these people? And who were Allah, Buddha and Shiva? 

In addition to attending the Methodist Church in my little home town, when doing sleep-overs with friends I also went to their churches  - Baptist, Church of Christ, Pentecostal, and Christian. Not sure why, but my Catholic buddies were never allowed to bring me along and I really wanted to go. All that getting down on your knees and the pageantry seemed so glamorous and exciting. 

The common thread of all the services I attended was “We’re right, they’re wrong and they’ll go to hell for it, and you’ll go to hell if you’re not good, but even if you’re not good, but you’re sorry, you’ll be OK”. And there seemed to be a conspicuous lack of scientific proof for any of the various beliefs. 

Significantly due to The World’s Great Religions, I grew to believe that if 8-billion people couldn’t agree, it was beyond me to reconcile. So my religion is just this: Be nice and help others when you can.  

What book changed your life?

Click on "Read More" below for “The Book That Changed My Life” from the New York Times.