MARIE KONDO IS THE CAUSE OF IT ALL

          

One recent night, I heard on the local news report that those who run the many charity thrift stores, those like the Salvation Army, Goodwill Industries, and even the local assistance leagues and services, are facing a glut of stuff. Donations are at an all-time high, and they’re hard pressed to handle it all. Who’s getting the blame? Marie Kondo.

Many people have climbed on the KonMari bandwagon and are organizing and paring down their possessions. No, that’s backwards: she would have people first discard the junk and stuff, then organize. They are especially mindful to divest themselves of anything that doesn’t being them joy. (My underwear doesn’t bring me joy, but nevertheless I’m keeping it.)

George Carlin once wrote a skit about his stuff. He really needed a place for all is stuff. His stuff had stuff. The purchase of a lot of stuff is one of the things that fuels our economy. But a slowdown is in progress:

-  As people accustom themselves to the “less is more” mindset

       for owning stuff, they’ll now probably purchase less of it.

-  They'll purchase less stuff, and pretty soon manufacturers will go

       out of business.

-  Manufacturers will lay off workers.

-  Unemployed workers will wind up on welfare.

            (Unemployed workers will shop at the thrift stores, and he thrift

                stores’ glut of stuff will dwindle to a trickle.)    

 -  Our gross national product will be reduced to a bare minimum.

 -  There goes the country.

And all because of Marie Kondo. The lesson here: bolster the world’s economy - keep your stuff!

OLDER AND WISER

 

I'm lookin' at you!

Every weekday, into my email inbox comes the online magazine Prime Woman. Last Tuesday there was a short read - they always tell you how long it will be, this one was 4 minutes – titled “Older, Wiser and Rocking their 70s – Powerful Women in the News.”  A charming 76 myself, I am always interested in articles about my generation and how we do what we do.

The short article further referred to a new book, a New York Times best seller, Women Rowing North – Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing as we Age. After taking a look inside the book, courtesy of Amazon, I can tell that the book should be a “must read” for any gals around my age whose “jury is still out,” who haven’t quite decided who they are and what they are today. Today, as has been the case for over a century, who and what we are, and how we think of ourselves, is very much dictated by the media. When we were younger and raising our children, the media was very much with us. It is still with the younger woman, and will probably always remain so.

Gradually, with the help of media outlets easily accessible by women like me who blog or have created online magazines, and with many older women writing articles and books aimed at us, we have recognized that we are not over the hill as was once thought, but are very much still on the way to the summit. We’ll hike along happily, with healthy minds and fairly healthy bodies.

Not all of us can look like some of the well-maintained celebrities like Cher, or Glenn Close who at age 71 just won a Golden Globe, and looks spectacular. We don’t fret too much about the shape of our bodies. One line form the book’s introduction says: “Our bodies are saggy with plenty of stretch marks, wrinkles, and cellulite, but do we care? Not much.” For the majority of us, this is true. We’ve made it this far and have other things to worry about.

I am fortunate to have moved to Sun City Carolina Lakes, a community of active adults. I often wonder what I’d be doing if I still lived a half a mile in on a dirt road in rural upstate New York. My day to day life in the community is an interaction with people my age. I work on this blog. I edit the community magazine. I do all the household things that need to be done, of course, and I read a lot. I’m just about in the middle of the age range here. I’ve a few friends and acquaintances in their late fifties, most are around my age, and a few in their late eighties and early nineties. We’re a good group, if I do say so myself. 

I'm rocking my seventies and going strong.

HELICOPTER PARENTING

Wren McDonald for the New York Times

Last night’s emailed Evening Briefing from the New York Times had this thought-provoking entry:

In one of our most read stories of the day, a contributing Opinion writer takes an unusual stance on helicopter parenting: It works.

Pamela Druckerman, an American journalist who lives in Paris, cites research by an economist at Yale and another at Northwestern collected in a new book, “Love, Money and Parenting: How Economics Explains the Way We Raise Our Kids.” They found that an “intensive parenting style” correlated with higher test scores, and kids less likely to use drugs, smoke or abuse alcohol, and more likely to delay sex.

“It’s true that high-octane, hardworking child-rearing has some pointless excesses, and it doesn’t spark joy for parents,” Ms. Druckerman writes. “But done right, it works for kids, not just in the United States but in rich countries around the world.”

Well, it may work to give the kids “higher test scores,” etc., but it doesn’t prepare them well for living. Helicopter parenting isn’t a relatively new phenomenon, though it was given a name only fifty years ago. I know several people raised by helicopter parents. They hardly know how to wash a dish or prepare a simple meal – thank heavens for restaurants and takeout – and they’ve not even got basic housekeeping skills. Making a bed is beyond them. They’re successful in their chosen fields, are moneyed, and are quite socially active. They travel widely and participate in a wide range of pastimes and sports. Because they can, they’ve amassed a lot of clothing and other possessions. To both save them time and do the thing they haven’t the foggiest notion how to do, they keep in their tablets up to date with the contact info for services like their housekeeping crew, their pet sitter, landscaper, their personal trainer, and their dry cleaning pickup. I suppose it all spurs our economy. That’s why helicopter parenting works in the rich countries. It boosts the gross national product.

Yes, they really don’t use drugs, smoke, or abuse alcohol, and perhaps they delayed sex. I’m not privy to that and I don’t care. But many are divorced, are in therapy, have to have live-in help of one kind or another, and are generally dissatisfied with life. Some realize what has happened to them, but some are hovering over their own offspring. I wish I could help them. As my mother would have said, “I feel for them, but I can’t reach them.”

In February it will be

My snowman's anniversary

With cake for him and soup for me!

Happy once, happy Twice   

Happy chicken soup with rice.

Ah, February - the month that we usually pronounce and spell incorrectly. It is a month I love because we've lots of family birthdays. From children to grandchildren, the oldest will now be 60, the youngest just 9. It is the amethyst month, and that is my favorite stone - not my own birthstone, alas. 

I first began to feature Maurice Sendak's "Chicken Soup with Rice" back in 2014. This year, so far, has been a record cold one in our country - and a record hot one down in Australia - so I thought I'd bring out the soup again. My own chicken soup has noodles in it - but it is delicious, if I do say so myself. Soup is the obvious supper to have on chilly winter days. As my mother would say, it warms the cockles of your heart. And I wanted to know what those cockles are. O.K., I just googled it and learned something. You should too. 

Have a Fabulous February everyone.