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If I Had My Life To Live Over by Erma Bombeck
The following was written by the late Erma Bombeck
after she found out that she had cancer.
after she found out that she had cancer.
If I had my life to live over, I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the ‘good’ living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television – and more while watching life.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for the day.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I’d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, “Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.”
There would have been more “I love you’s”.. More “I’m sorrys” …
But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute… look at it and really see it … live it…and never give it back.
I know it’s superficial and I’m being vain, but really it’s out of pragmatism. My hair is very long and fine. I can only untangle it in the shower with gobs of conditioner slicking it up—even then it can be hard to get a comb through it. I’ve read that eggs are good for moisturising your hair but that’s not practical to do every other day.
I had a hairdresser tell me once that you should only wash your hair a few times a week. Cutting back to every other day seems doable but more then that? I don’t think so. I’ll be spending some time online tonight trying to find some good recipes for home made shampoo/conditioners. The pioneer site looks like it has some good information on it about hair care.
Obsessing about my conditioner running out is one thing—but what is going to be gone first is the dish washing detergent. I did find a recipe here. “Part borax and part washing soda, add vinegar in the rinse compartment if you have hard water.” Sounds easy enough, but we do have hard water so I was thinking we couldn’t make do with a homemade dish washing detergent, but I guess I should give it a try.
I don’t know why but I feel so out of sorts. I guess part of it is a change in routine. Shopping, searching, wandering around the store thinking should I try this product or that is something I actually enjoy. I zone out when I shop—it’s almost meditative for me until I pull out my debit card and pay for it. Then it hurts. I’m probably not the only one that finds shopping this way. I think that’s why I named the blog StopShopping because I do realise it’s an addiction on some level. Maybe addiction is not quite the right word for it but it seems to provide me with a type of stimulus that seems to be unnatural.
It was amusing to me when Les and I were talking about our plans for the new year I feel like I need to immediately run out and buy vast quantities of vinegar and baking soda for cleaning. For now though we are just going to use up the products we have. I keep having to remind myself to stop shopping. Such a shopaholic it’s pathetic.
This New Year’s resolution should be good for us but also a challenge. We’ve never done anything quite like this before. Using vinegar and water when you’ve run out of Windex is one thing but to completely abandon the brands that you’ve grown up with is–well something else.
It’s amusing to think that I could go through some type of brand with drawl (is that possible?).
There will be a few commercial made items that we will continue to buy laundry detergent and dish-washing detergent and tooth paste. The rest of it will be very simple. I know how to make soap so I’m thinking of finding a recipe and making us a bunch of soap, but we really don’t even need to do that. Baking soda and in the bath water is great keeps your skin nice and soft or just adding some aromatherapy oil can be nice too.
For the kids in the past I’ve put some oatmeal in old stockings and let them wash with that. It can last for a few days and is very gentle on their skin. One thing I’m worried about though is my hair once my shampoo & conditioner runs out I’m a little scared my hair can become very tangled and hard to brush out.
I guess for the kitchen floors I’ll just use vinegar and water. Over the next will I think I will be doing my fare share of google searches on homemade cleaners. Apparently hydrogen peroxide makes an excellent sanitizer my husband says they’ve started to use it exclusively at work.
