Stay in Love - Make Money

by Shirley Bahlmann
I was in church when I found out that staying in love is not only good for your body and soul, but also for your pocket book. I'm not even talking about the old axim, "Two can live as cheaply as one." No, I'm talking about cold, hard cash.
How can this be?
It's simple, and I even got it from the horse's mouth. (Sorry, Shirley Ann, you're not really a horse, that's just what they say! No, they don't SAY you're a horse... ahem.) Shirley Ann is the almost-octogenarian who reported that showing affection for her equally age-advanced husband brought some green into her pocket.
"We were walking down the street in the city," she said, "and this man walked up to us. We thought he might be asking directions or something, but instead he held out a dollar bill. 'What's that for?' I asked, immediately suspicious.
"Pressing it into my free hand, he said, 'I always give a dollar to older couples who hold hands.'" Shirley Ann smiled when she said it.
So there you have it.
One 88-year-old widower was watching people walk by at a craft fair. After awhile, he commented, "You can tell what stage people are in by the way they walk. When they're young and in love, they have their arms around each other. When they're first married, they're holding hands. Then they might have a small child or two and walk beside each other. Then a little later on, one is walking a few steps ahead while the other is a few steps behind." He stopped a moment, then said, "I sure miss my wife. If I had it to do over again, I'd sure do it different."
So there you have it. Now you know. So grab the hand of your loved one, live with no regrets, and maybe you'll even get a dollar for your pocket.

Age is Relative

By Rebecca Talley

My grandmother had many sayings, one of which was, "Age is only mind over matter, if you don't mind, it don't matter."

Since I'll be celebrating my birthday in two days, I've been thinking about age. I enjoyed Doug's post about his experience with his 8 year old daughter. We had a similar experience when we took our kids to the local recreation center to go swimming. My husband was holding our youngest child and he ran into an old classmate who asked if he was holding his grandchild. "No," my husband answered, "it's my son." I'm sure it's not that we look old enough to have grandkids (right?), it's that people our age have already raised their kids and are now empty nesters. We won't have an empty nest for almost another 20 years. That gives me pause.

Last Sunday, my son's best friend spoke in Sacrament Meeting because he just returned from his mission in the Ukraine. (My son will be home in less than 5 months, but who's counting?). This young man shared some of his mission experiences. He said, "We taught this very old couple. They must've been in their eighties, so they were very, very old." A couple sitting in front of us looked at each other and snickered because they are both close to that age. After the meeting, I leaned over and told them, "Age is relative."

Isn't it? When I was a teenager, I thought that 30 was so old that your life was over. When I hit 30, I remember thinking how it wasn't as old as I had once thought. Now, I look at people that are 30 and think, "Wow, they're so young."

50 isn't nearly as old as it used to be, either. I'm still a long way from reaching 50, but my sisters-in-law have already reached that milestone and they still seem rather young.

Age is only relative and is in the eye of the beholder. "If you don't mind, it don't matter."

My Ego Is Broken and Old!

No, that photo is not me.

This is part one of what I hope is a two part blog. But as my life has been going of late, it may be a ten part blog.

It all started about four months ago when I took my eight year old daughter to get a get well present for my mom (McKenna's grandma). My mom has been sick for a long time, and four months ago she was in the hospital for the fith time in 12 months. She got home that day, so we went to a closeout store in Salt Lake City to get her the gift.
McKenna found the perfect gift. It was a stuffed pink poodle, and since my mom has two poodles, we bought it.

After paying for our purchase, we were approching the exit, and there was a lady sitting at the exit and checking all receipts to make sure no one was stealing.

I didn't have a problem with what the lady was doing, I had a problem with what she said to me. She looked at the stuffed animal, at me and then my daughter, and said, "Sir, that is so nice of you to buy your granddaughter a stuffed animal". My daughter laughed so hard she had tears running down her face, and I, well I had tears in my eyes also, but not of laughter. By the time we got home, my daughter had called all of her brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and anyone else she could think of to tell the story.

That night, I had my daughter Chelsea dye my hair, and I shaved off my beard. Only last month, I turned 43.

What happened yesterday, will be post 2 in this series, after I figure out why this person said what he did.

Until then, I will get my walker out, take my Geritol and try to drive the speed limit on the freeway.