They don't make 'em like that any more....

 

 

 

 

 

Today I attended the celebration of life service for a long time friend and mentor...the city of Mansfield said goodbye to Virginia Imhoff, who had just turned 90 in January.

When I was a teenager Mrs. Imhoff was my guidance counselor. To my teenage eyes she was elegant, educated and intimidating. So intimidating, in fact, that when I told her I wanted to drop out of school she verbally wrestled me to the ground and scared that thought right out of my head. It's something I've never forgotten and for which I've always been grateful.

Working in radio over the years I wrote commercials and did voice work for some of Ginny's campaigns as she moved through the chairs at city council, eventually becoming president. She was involved in so many things, always working tirelessly in the community.

This summer it was not unusual to drive along Marion Avenue and see Ginny walking her dog...always a boxer. From time to time I'd stop in and visit, only being allowed to enter the house after a good snuffle inspection from the dog. There were hundreds of former students that she referred to as “my kids”....I was lucky enough to be one of them.

Just a few months earlier our community lost yet another role model when Marilou Schwan died. She was 99, and until Swan Cleaners closed the year before her death she was behind the counter every day with her hair done, her heels on and dressed to kill. It was a pleasure to drop off dry cleaning just to get to talk to her.

Our community lost two amazing women when these two passed away. In a world where role models are in such short supply Ginny Imhoff and Marilou Schwan were examples of lives well lived.

A few years back Ginny was walking her dog along Marion Avenue when a mugger grabbed her. When she realized she couldn't out-muscle the guy, Ginny faked a heart attack and dropped to the sidewalk like a cement block. When the guy let go of her and took off Ginny ran into the street and flagged down a car for help. She simply out foxed the guy; I'm sure he never knew what happened. In any event he sure didn't have any bragging rights after that episode.

 

Years ago, on a work day just like any other day, a guy came into Swan Cleaners with a gun and took everyone hostage. Marilou, at the counter as usual, was forced to round up all of the employees and bring them to the front counter. Without any thought to herself she talked the guy into releasing the whole staff while she stayed as his hostage.  After several hours she talked him into surrendering to police. No one was hurt because she took control...but if a fight had broken out my money would have been on her.

Working in what was really a man's world back in the day didn't cost these women their femininity. Both gals were always perfectly coiffed and stylishly dressed as they spent day after day in the work force. Their humor and intellect was always evident, and they were both admired by so many of us. I feel lucky to have known them, and in their passing they've left some really big high heels to fill.
 

Today's memorial service has made me think about the quality of the memories I want to leave behind;  there's no doubt these two long time friends are a tough act to follow. How fortunate we are to be left with the memory of two strong and capable women who were always young at heart, always ahead of their time....and gone too soon.

 

The Birthday Card

One year after moving in we are finally making some headway in our new home. It is, for the most part, just about the way we want it. The only remaining work to be done is in the basement, and that's all on me.

Everything we moved that didn't fit upstairs is now lurking in the corners of our huge basement. Finally I'm at the point where I need an organized space to work in. I need a place to write, a place to work on crafts and a spot to sort, scan and maybe scrapbook some of the thousands of pictures I've saved over the years. It's a tall order for one space but I've made some progress.

If there is one thing I've come to understand about myself it is that I have an abstract mind. Give me a concrete function and I'm bored in an hour...which also describes my reaction to getting organized. I'm a creative person who resents wasting time putting things on shelves, in drawers and wrestling stuff to the dumpster, but that is the task at hand.

Today, working toward some of that much-needed organization, I popped the tape on a big box that lurked under a table and, when opened, was found to be chocked full of things I've kept over the years. I dug through pictures and napkins and matchbooks and news paper clippings.  A thick stack of greeting cards was held together by a rubber band that broke as I clumsily worked it over the edge of the big bundle. I discovered dozens of cards from my (first) retirement, their handwritten notes made me smile and remember how much I enjoyed working with this terrific staff of broadcasters.  Out tumbled  Valentines Day cards from my husband, anniversary cards, thank you notes, Mothers Day cards from the children and hand made cards from our grand kids. Goodness! I realized I must never have thrown anything away in my whole life!

Digging deeper into the box I found a large manila envelope that I really didn't remember, but then I hardly remembered keeping any of this stuff. I dumped the envelope into my lap and out tumbled a bunch of birthday cards from my mother. Each envelope, some to me and some to my husband, was addressed in my mother's elegant handwriting. Inside each card was a personal note; I read each and every one, hearing them in my mother's voice. I remembered chiding mom for being so particular about the cards she chose. No “grab any card under $3.00 and run” for my mother. Oh no...she would spend hours, sometimes in several stores, until she found just the right verse. Mom didn't keep a diary, but each carefully chosen card spoke for her just as plainly. I sat really reading the cards, likely for the first time, and I knew she had carefully chosen this just for me or for her much loved son in law. After penning her own message to the inside of the card she would always tuck a crisp dollar bill, fresh from a special trip to the bank, inside. When our children were little mom always gave them a gift, but she also tucked a dollar into their birthday cards. My husband jokingly said he wanted his dollar, too! It became our joke and forever after every one of us got a dollar in our birthday cards.

 Mom never handed us our birthday cards; she always mailed them as if handing one over diminished it's worth. She took such pains with cards, and I now realized these really were my mom's expression of how much she loved us. After reading each one I carefully put them back into their envelopes, the dollar bills still tucked inside each card, and tied them with a red ribbon before I slipped them back into the larger manila envelope.

Greeting cards have always seemed to me to be a product trumped up by the card companies.  I've always sent cards out of obligation, almost never because I truly wanted to.  Now it occurred to me in the hurry of my younger day to day life I had missed the beautiful verses, had not thought about my mom making a trip to the bank for a crisp new dollar,  and over looked the carefully addressed envelope when it arrived in the mail. Of course I was busy with work, with children, with a house and the myriad of other things that kept me occupied. And there was always next year, the next birthday, the next card....wasn't there?

In spite of the fact that it is completely against my nature I will continue to try to organize my house, my space, my life.  I learned something today that might make it a bit more palatable:  I learned that we do not know how many tomorrows we have, but if we do the little things today with great love they can speak for us long after we are gone.             

Thank you mom...it was great being with you today.

Life is Good