Goodbye February – Hello March!

February is finally over! I admit I’m not sorry to see this month go. Here in Pennsylvania, our temperatures hovered around 0^o on many days. 

The good news is that birds are beginning to sing in the morning, and next Sunday, March 8 begins Eastern Daylight Savings Time. Whooo-hoooo! The following day, I will be going to Florida for a week. Whooo-hooo!

It’s been a great month on the Wise Women of Age blog. Readership increases with every month. For me, that’s a sign that you wise women relate to what I write about. 

In case you missed them, here is your chance to catch up on this month’s subjects, ranked by readership. Click on any hot link to go directly to that blog:

Through a Mother’s Eyes – A story for those of faith about  the crucifixion and a mother's love,

thoughts about this holy Christian season of Lent, and the crucifixion through the eyes of a mother and how it relates to us. 

Here Comes the Sun – Just Not Soon Enough – Winter makes me SAD. I mean SAD as in Seasonal Affective Disorder. Could you be suffering from it too? I give you my take on it in this blog,

So Many Books, So Little Time - Winter is my time for reading, and I read A LOT! I read concurrently, and will often be working through a novel, some kind of non-fiction “how to” book, doing a Bible study, and my pile of periodicals to peruse. Nothing is better on a snowy winter afternoon than to nestle under the cuddle blanket my granddaughter made for me with my dog, a cup of tea, and a good book. In this blog, I share with you the titles of some of my favorite books of this month. 

Punxsutawney Phil –Up Close and Personal  -  Here’s a little known fact about me: Punxsutawney Phil and I are BFFs. Groundhog Day means more to me than the lore of a rodent's shadow. It’s a turning point in my life. Read this blog to get the rest of the story.

Secret Spending – I Cannot Tell a Lie -  We would all like to think we are not liars. I’m sure we all try NOT to be liars. However, sometimes we tell lies with our actions, not words. Secret spending and financial infidelity are destructive in relationships. If you’re committing financial offenses, you need to read this blog.

You Gotta Have Friends – Did you know that interaction with your coffee shop gang could add two and half years to your life? Check out this blog to get the story.  

Senior Dating: Advice from Me and Willie Nelson -Widowed, divorced, separated, or single? Are you interested in dating in the September of your life? Do you know someone who is? Where to begin? In this February month of all things Valentine related, we will look at searching for love in the second half of our lives. Willie Nelson and I have some advice to help you out.

Heart of My Heart – Women and Heart Disease – What You Need to Know - 69% of women don't know that heart disease is the #1 killer of women. Do you know your risks? Do you know that women’s symptoms of a heart attack are different than men’s symptoms? Read this blog for information to put you in the know. You owe it to those you love.

Round, Round, Ready, Touch – The Death of Penmanship –  Penmanship is disappearing in school. I remember making rocker and rainbow motions. I remember “round, round, ready-touch” as we oval-ed our full-motion arms across the pre-lined practice papers.

Think about those love letters your husband wrote, your mother’s recipe cards, and the Mother’s Day cards your kids made for you. Aren’t they a treasure? Where would we be if the signers of the Declaration of Independence couldn’t sign their names?

We need to keep penmanship alive. Hear me out in this blog.

There you have it. I’m looking forward to hearing more from my readers. Your comments are often the spark that generates this blog. So keep them coming!

If you know someone who benefit or enjoy this blog, please forward it to them.

Punxsutawney Phil: Up Close and Personal

Phil and Bill

Every February 2^nd, just like many other people, I will pour my morning coffee and turn on the news to see what Punxsutawney Phil, the Grand Prognosticator, will predict. Will it be six more weeks of winter or an early spring?

A little known fact about me is that Punxsutawney Phil is a BFF of my family. My father was born in Punxsutawney in 1919, and graduated from high school there in 1937. After WWII, he returned with his new bride to look for work. His first post-war job was here in the Beaver Valley, where I grew up, but he maintained his ties with Punxsutawney. Our family eventually bought a farm there. My father built a house for us, and also a place for my grandparents. It was our weekend/vacation place the entire time I was growing up. Ultimately my father and mother retired there. My sister still lives in Punxsutawney. 

What does this have to do with Punxsutawney Phil? Stick with me on this, and I’ll share the story. 

Everyone in Punxsutawney knows Phil. He lives at the local library in a special enclosure where tourists can peer into through a huge glass window. You can watch Phil and his female friend, Phyllis, as they romp or mostly sleep their lives away. Have I ever been to Groundhog Day? Sure. Been there. Done that. Got the Groundhog hat. Checked off the bucket list.

On the night of February 1, 1981, my mother was dying at Punxsutawney Memorial Hospital of bone cancer. Once diagnosed, the end swiftly closed in on her. The pain was terrible. My father said he didn’t want her to die alone, so he, my sister, and I took turns in shifts staying around the clock at her bedside. On that night as I climbed into bed, I prayed that God would take my mother home. Her body couldn’t take much more suffering. 

About 6:00 a.m. the morning of February 2, my father called to say Mom had passed away. I headed into town to meet him and my sister. It was a bitter cold February morning, and uh-oh! I forgot it was Groundhog Day. 

As you might guess, getting into Punxsutawney on Groundhog Day is like going the wrong way in the roller rink. The mobs of people in town made our day so much more challenging as we went from the hospital to the Deely Funeral Home, where Mom would lie in state, and then stopped to get breakfast at the Punxsutawney Phil’s Family Restaurant (yes, there really is such a place!).

We were able to shoulder our way through the crowd at the restaurant and finally get a booth. As I watched the revelers thronging and pushing around us, resentment started to build against these loud and raucous tourists. Didn’t they know that not everyone was here to party? Real people live in Punxsutawney too, and we have lives beyond Groundhog Day. The hoard of people made a difficult day more difficult.  

Two years later, my father passed away out at the family farm. The Deely Funeral Home handled the arrangements for my father as well. Afterward, we knew that neither my sister nor I could afford or manage this large acreage of our family farm. While our family was trying to wrap up the estate business, Bill Deely from the funeral home approached us about buying the farm. He and his brother were interested in using it for a family retreat. A deal was struck and the farm sold.

So you may ask what does all this have to do with Punxsutawney Phil? You see, that jovial man that appears on stage each year with Phil is none other than Bill Deely, long-time president of the famed Inner Circle and Punxsutawney Phil’s personal handler. Yes, the same Bill Deely from the funeral home who bought our family farm.

So February 2^nd is always a bittersweet morning for me. Seeing Phil and Bill together make me homesick. They confirm to me that I became an orphan at the age of 34. I realized then that it doesn’t matter how old you are when your parents both pass away. From that point on you become an orphan. It’s a sad and lonely feeling.

For all of you wise women who responded to the Boomer Babes Lifestyle Survey, 63% of you have lost both of your parents. So being orphaned is an emotion I know you can feel as well. Do we ever get over the passing of our parents? Are we ever too old to have our hearts broken with the memories?

The Deely family have been good to my collective family. They welcome us to the farm any time they know we’re around. I have so many memories there, from clearing the land to my father building the house with his own two hands. My children remember their idyllic summers at the farm and the good times and holidays with their grandparents there. We have taken the next generation of children there too so they can see the house that their great-grandfather built. Whenever we feel the need to go “home,” we can get in the car, drive to Punxsutawney, and walk the fields and woods that were ours as children.

On Monday, February 2^nd this year, I will pour my coffee, turn on the morning news, and watch for the smiling face of Bill Deely as he lifts Punxsutawney Phil into the air to proclaim the forecast for this year. You will probably watch it too, but we will see different things. You will see a group of revelers paying homage to a gimmick that put Punxsutawney on the map. I will remember the day my mother passed away. I will see the memories of my long-gone grandparents, mom, and dad, and be thankful for the Deely family who will let us walk the farm again. 

http://www.groundhog.org/about/inner-circle/single/article/bill-deeley-president/

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/252/1161434/restaurant/Pennsylvania/Punxy-Phils-Family-Restaurant-Punxsutawney