Let me call you sweetheart....

   I have a horrible memory for names.  I remember faces but the names escape me.  No, it's not because I am getting older...More experienced.  I have always had this problem. 
   Why do you think I call everyone darling.  After all I'm not a Gabor sister.

Eva Gabor

                                   Oops, I just dated myself didn't I.


   This can get real embarrassing, like when you are trying to introduce someone.  I have done it so often that now it is expected of me.  I just brush it off with something like, okay I would like to introduce you  but you know I am horrible with names so just introduce yourselves.   Hey it worked for Dory in
Finding Nemo.
   When I taught dance, I had a little trick I did.  I would set the student's chart on a table by the floor and then dance them over to it to read the name.  I just pretended to see what step I needed to teach them next.  I knew that chart forward and backwards, literally.  I thought I was pretty slick until one Valentine's Day .....
   All my students got together and gave me a card.  It had Donald and Daisy Duck on it, and said ...Let me call you sweetheart.....Because I can't remember your name.
   I laughed and said... BUSTED.    They knew about it all the time.   Hey, I always said I got the smart people.
   Sometimes it helps to have accomplices.  If one of us couldn't remember a name, another one would go up to the person and introduce ourselves.  When we had the name we would walk by the other and tell them the name in passing.  Then they could go up to the person and pretend they knew the name the whole time.  That one worked like a charm.
   So if you forget names like I do, don't get upset about it.  Use one of the above tricks or make up a new one.  You could even try telling the truth ... I remember your face but I'm sorry your name escapes me. 
   Well, I hope I helped you out a little, Darling.

Age really doesn't matter...

   Deb and Barbara over at The Middle Ages got me to thinking about age the other day.  How some of us never like to think of how old we are and some of us don't ever give it a thought.  It's just not that important to us.   Besides it's not the age that makes  you feel old, it's the mileage.
   I had a good friend, Linda, who would tell everyone who asked her age that she was 16.  Her philosophy was if your going to lie,  make it a whooper.  She did this so often that a few people took it as a challenge to find out just how old she was.  Once her grown son was with us to celebrate her birthday.  At the club and the singer (who was a friend) pulled him aside to talk.  When asked how old his mother was, her son said with out hesitation, “As far as I know she's 16.”  His momma didn't raise no fool.  He was staying at her house.
   I have never had a problem telling anyone my age.  There are 2 reasons for this.  1) I never looked it, and 2) I have a younger sister (8 ½ years younger) who would tell if I didn't.
   An example of never looking my age happened when I was out at dinner one night with Linda and another friend.  When we ordered drinks the waitress asked to see my license.  I was 31 at the time.  When she left, Linda looked me straight in the eye and said just one word.  “Bitch”.  She wasn't asked for her license.
   It's not just women who are concerned with their age either.  Because my birthday fell at the end of November, I was the youngest to graduate in my class in High School.   One of the cheerleaders found out I was younger than he was and I became his new best friend.  It's okay for a girl to be the youngest in the class but not a guy.
  Our 35th reunion is coming up and now the shoe is on the other foot.  We get to call everyone else old folks, and remind them that we are younger than they are.  Ah, revenge is sweet.
   Speaking of revenge, you know how I told you my sister always told my age.  Well, now when we meet people who don't know us, they ask who's the oldest.  That really get her goat.
   Just remember, we are not getting older we are getting better, and that's the truth.  It took us a lot of experience and learning to get where we are now, and I wouldn't trade that for anything.  So pour yourself a glass of wine and celebrate being you, and the age really doesn't matter.

                          To my dear friend Linda: We miss you Rollie Pollie.