Three-Quarters of a Century and counting….

My mom turned 75 yesterday.

Yes, you heard me….three quarters of a century old. I can hardly believe it.

You see, when she turned 40, I thought she was soooooo over the hill. My brother and I made wisecracks and silly cards about it, announcing to the world that our mom was officially “over-the-hill”. In fact, now that I am in my early forties myself, I don’t feel near as old as I thought she was!!!

Funny thing is, now she seems so young! She still works full time at a hospital in the food service department, cooking and serving up both food and a smile. I’d show you a picture of her—if she’d ever let anyone take one of her. She is rather shy and quiet—the opposite of her darlin’ daughter.

But I will tell you this. She looks so young that people often do not even ask her if she qualifies for the senior citizen discounts available at stores and restaurants. Most of these price reductions start at age 55!!!

In fact, when we went out to our fancy lunch yesterday at my beloved Panera Bread, the woman who took our order guessed her as being 55-57 years old!!!

Her secret???….get ready beauty world ‘cause you just might faint. When she was a teen and worked as a waitress, she had a regular customer who was “older” but who had beautiful skin. This was in the early 1950’s. She inquired as to what her beauty regimen was, thinking it surely must be complicated and expensive. Her answer?

Vaseline. Yep. Good old petroleum jelly. She said that soap had never touched her face. She put Vaseline on in the morning before applying her make-up and used it at night to remove it.

So my dear mother has done the same thing. For over 50 years now.

And let me tell you her skin is gorgeous!

I however, am too chicken to use the greasy stuff, but I thought I’d pass that glamour tip along to you all!  

And can I just place a little thought in your head? If your mom is still around, give her a call. Tell her you love her. Tell her how much you appreciate all that she did to raise you.

You see, I sat there yesterday sipping coffee and sampling soup with the woman who gave me my start in life. Now that I am a mom I wonder how she ever did it, let alone how she ever did it as a single mom all by herself.

She is my hero.

Call your hero today. Who knows when God might fly them home?

Sweet-I’m-Glad-My-Mom-Is-Still-Around-Blessings,

Karen

2 Comments

  1. For my grandmother it was Ponds cold cream morning and nite – ah the simple life. I call my mom every day (she is 1000 miles away) – usually it is just for a 2 minute chat to tell her something funny on the way to pick-up my girls – but she has told me she looks forward to it every day!

  2. Congratualations to your mom. My mom is86! Neither
    of us drive so I rarely get to see her. I’ll call her in the AM. Sometimes its frustrating because she doesn’t know how to program or use her voice mail. Many times I have to give up and wait for her to remember her Saturday calls she makes.

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