PUT ON YOUR HIGH TECH HAPPY FACE!
September 30, 2015
I’m sitting here in my sunroom in the middle of the afternoon. I’ve had to turn the lights on for the first time in a long while during the day. That’s because Autumn has moved in with some cooling rains and almost winterish gray skies. I’m not much of a sun worshipper. I don’t like hot weather. I’ve never enjoyed sunbathing. But I do like the loveliness of sunlight. The worst part of winter for me is the prevalence of gray skies. So as I was pondering the bleakness of this afternoon, I suddenly burst into song with Eujane. She enjoys musical theater and so do I, at least in the privacy of our own little house. We were singing and dancing up a storm, hair and long ears flapping jubilantly. (That’s the Hollywood version in my head, anyhow.) I had to look up the song to remind myself of the words. The version I enjoyed the most is [here](http://youtu.be/I_CE7GqqrvY), although the gray skies line was left out for some reason. All I can say is, if Dick Van Dyke singing and dancing in *Bye Bye Birdie* doesn’t brighten up your day, then you must be “a mean old thing.”
Seeing Janet Leigh in that clip reminded me of her daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, who appeared on the Today show recently. Married to her one and only husband for 31 years, Jamie was asked her advice for maintaining a long marriage. Her answer was succinct: “Don’t get divorced.” Watch it [here](http://www.hulu.com/watch/846850) if you like. Whoa! What a concept! My husband and I have been married 37 years and I would say that advice pretty much hits the felicitous nail on the head. Of course that seemingly simple solution to marital bliss involves much more than just stubborn fortitude. It involves BOTH the husband and the wife working daily on that “’til death do us part” commitment they made at the altar. It’s not always easy or pleasant, but it’s definitely worthwhile to walk hand in hand through life with one special person. So as my husband likes to tell his students at college, when it comes to marriage, one should “choose wisely.”
While we’re in the familial realm of Doodledom, I’d like to invite all my Doodleheads to read my firstborn daughter’s recent blog post [here](http://amybeth.me/2015/09/so-my-baby-has-down-syndrome/) if you haven’t already done so. It’s a lovely rendering of her walk through becoming the mother of a child with Down Syndrome. I haven’t written about it in this space because she hadn’t written about it yet, and it was her story to tell. She did such a beautiful job of it that I have nothing to add. We all love little Poppy so much! Her big sweet smile and belly laughs make the gray skies clear up faster than anything. And when Charlie joins in, well, it’s pure magic! Just look at [this](https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrsdavs/19899602100/) if you don’t believe me, or even if you do!
Ha! I’ve just proven what a high tech woman I can be with all those links! Never mind that I will have to alert my Tech Concierge, (my son-in-law, Master-of-all-things-requiring-more-than-pen-and-paper) to check that I’ve done all the necessary whoopdeedoo to insert these modern videos correctly. If I haven’t, he can fix it!
And just to add more musical theater to your grayish day, I invite you to watch this part of one of my favorite movies. Dick Van Dyke and my cousin in nannyhood, Mary Poppins, cannot be beat for making me smile and chortle, especially when Uncle Albert shows up! Enjoy [this](http://youtu.be/pOMqqI-kzHY) if you aren’t afraid of ending up floating to the ceiling.
Happy Autumn!