Self-improvement

Stay Classic

Jeanna GLeave a comment

Last night I went to music bingo at a local brewery, and the final round was classic rock. I’d say 90% of the songs were from my childhood and adolescence. I stared at my board, slackjawed, and then exclaimed, “I’m classic?!” In other words, I’m old. 

I remember a time my mom was classifying her children’s senses of style; one was athletic, one trendy, and she looked at me, paused, and then labeled me classic. I wasn’t sure what she meant, but I was living in Connecticut at the time, so I was hoping she just meant preppy, and not stale. 

I work for a tech company now, and despite the world’s advances in technology, its failure is the cause of most of my team’s headaches. “Classic” is our go-to word for things going wrong at just the wrong time. Hearing the word classic had always conjured up images of cool things like cars and rock ‘n’ roll, but the word classic was starting to take on a negative connotation, and I didn’t like it. 

Last week I was watching a morning talk show that was highlighting a trending Reel on social media that had copied a scene from a Christmas movie that was made nearly 40 years ago. One of the hosts pointed out that the Reel is popular because that movie is still relevant. That one declaration helped me to restore my mindset; being classic doesn’t mean I’m old, it means I’m popular! *cue applause* So, you see, calling something classic doesn’t mean it’s old, stale, or broken, it means it’s timeless, relevant, and enduring.

As I begin planning for the new year, I resolve to stay classically classic.

Fill Your Hope Chest

Jeanna G2 Comments

Mom loved to redecorate, and rehab and rearrange the furniture, but her hope chest was one of the few pieces of furniture that was a fixture. It held our baby books, handmade family quilts and afghans, and her good silver. It wasn’t until I read a novel that described a woman’s hope chest that I actually put a meaning to the name. I just thought of it as a pretty storage trunk, but hope chests were essentially the beginning of a collection of things a woman would want to have once she became a wife, like a gown, dishes, table and bed linens, or family heirlooms. Women were manifesting their futures with a tangible vision board. If I build it, he will come. 

As for myself, my hope chest wouldn’t be filled with plates and silverware. It would have my passport and a carry-on,  packed and ready to go anywhere, at any time of year. There’d also be some of my daughter’s onsies that I saved, in hopes of seeing them on my granddaughter one day.

Hope and wait, hope and wait. 

The season of advent shares this theme, as Christians wait for the hope-filled arrival of Jesus. Many also hope for the arrival of Santa and whatever he’s got in his bag. Some of us are hoping and waiting for a fresh start in the new year. We hope and wait for a proposal, a job offer, an invitation, or an approval. We hope and wait for a letter or a phone call, or for someone to come back home. Some of us hope things stay the same, and some hope for change.

What I hope is that you hope for something; that you are filling your hope chest with beautiful designs for the future, and that peace, love, and joy surround you while you wait. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Jeanna G4 Comments

I used to love Highlights magazines for the different front and back covers. I would study the picture of what was right on the front in order to identify what was wrong on the back. I think this practice trained us for adulthood. We grow up with a picture in our minds of what we want our surroundings to look like, but sometimes what’s on the back cover is our reality. We need to, at times, take a step back and take in the whole picture in order to identify what’s out of place, what doesn’t fit, and what we need to fix.