Things change as we get older. For instance, now retired after a long career in nursing, the first thing I do in the morning after waking up is pull on a pair of compression socks to keep my varicose veins from bulging over the tops of my shoes by the end of the day. That condition is a little gift from all those years running and standing and nursing.
With compression socks comfortably in place after a lot of tugging, I feel blessed if I make it to the bathroom without peeing on my feet. If I manage to sail over those two hurdles, I know it’s probably going to be an OK day.
Before advancing age ‘changed’ me, I’m trying to remember how I spent those first early morning minutes. Apparently, they were so routine and insignificant they never became a memory. I DO know they must have been better than my current a.m. routine … due entirely to change, which also occasionally includes my first waking thought, “What awful thing is going to happen today?” It goes with the territory after AARP finds you and you start getting senior citizen discounts unless you’re too vain to admit your age and would rather just keep on paying full price for everything.
Change has made TV commercials less interesting little vignettes filled with annoying jingles that turn into earworms that stay in your head for at least five days. Change has made prices higher, car seats lower and harder to get in, my preferred shampoo discontinued. and boiling bags obsolete. It also has made my feet tingle when I take off my compression socks and has me considering the virtues of a Walk-In Tub. I miss my shampoo and those delightful commercials featuring cranky old deaf women shouting at the butcher, “Where’s the beef???”
I miss Shredded Wheat that had no taste and looked like six Brillo Pads inside the box.
I miss sitting between mile-high amplifiers and listening to live bands but thankfully I can ride down the road with my car radio blasting out those wonderful songs that have caused us hearing loss in our Twilight Years. I love remembering those songs, still remembering ALL the lyrics and singing along, and I am astounded that those special tunes are now considered ‘oldies’ and ELEVATOR MUSIC. But on the other hand, an afternoon spent riding from floor to floor in an elevator listening to fabulous music can’t be all that bad.
I miss the good old days before ’the change,’ which is something I don’t want to go into right now. It deserves a blog entry all its own.
I especially miss mostly honest politicians who, regardless of the differences in platforms, could be depended upon to have this country at the top of their priority lists. I miss their integrity and decency and, in most cases, their basic honesty. These past ten years in the political arena have been filled with more change than is acceptable. I don’t like the cruelty and deceit and lies or foreign countries tampering with our elections.
The winds of political change have carried with it a very foul odor and I am thankful for a candidate in 2024 that offers the possibility of change BACK to decency and honesty and a new path forward. May she win this upcoming election. Otherwise, I’m afraid the change will be too drastic to deal with or understand. I’m scared mostly to death for this country.
There are some things that we depend upon to remain constant, no matter how old we get or how much change we encounter. Like Coke and Oreo cookies. Those have been cruel lessons involving change. Every time companies attempt to change those ‘dependables’ they always fail and we go back to regular Coke and Oreos still just right for dunking in milk. I like that. (And God said, “That’s good.”)
Probably the MOST dependable product ever to grace the market has been Ivory Soap. Not only is it almost guaranteed not to break out even the most allergy-prone skin, it FLOATS. It has always floated since my childhood when I use to try to hold it down under the bath water to see if I could STOP it from floating, but I never could. Its floating was a given … it was a dependable floater.
The last several years, due to an allergic reaction to some skin irritant I’ve been using Ivory Soap and I STILL delight in the fact that it floats. If you drop it in the bath water in our whirlpool tub it pops right back up and it’s easy to find. It’s just the coolest part of Ivory.
So, I just recently opened a fresh purchase of four bars of that amazing floating miracle and much to my surprise and dismay, the first bar in that four-bar pack did NOT float. What the – – – – ??? Everything else was normal … smell … bubbles … cleaning quality.
I opened the second bar of that new four-bar pack last night. Carefully and with trepidation, I took the wrapper off and dropped it into the tub. It sank to the bottom and disappeared and did NOT pop back up. I am devastated and confused. I checked the outer wrapper and it still says The Soap That Floats so why doesn’t it? Is this aberration just a fluke? A pack of unwhipped cleaning agent? A ‘factory second? A factory defect ? A MISTAKE? Could it be FALSE ADVERTISING???
Does anyone know … or have you heard of any Ivory Soap recall for floating failure? Is MY four-pack the ONLY factory floating failure or is this some PERMANENT ARRANGEMENT in the land of Ivory?
I still have two more bars to use and I pray they are ‘normal floaters.” I’m not sure I can deal with extremely anxiety-producing politics AND Ivory No-Floats. I’m not suffering from OCD but I expect Ivory to float without equivocation And, when it doesn’t, something is very wrong in this world, like a slight but unexpected tipping of this old planet on its axis or the effect of renegade sun spots. Things just seem lopsided in a very peculiar way.
Does anyone know why Ivory doesn’t float anymore?????
heimdalco 