My Mary Kay

Today I am thankful for my Mary Kay....

I absolutely LOVE this product. If it were up to me, every woman would be using/wearing this product. I have found every one of the Mary Kay products do what they claim...and more. My skin has never felt so good or looked so good. (I have been told I look younger now than I did a few years ago.)

Many know this company was started by one woman, but fe

w know of the many obstacles and challenges she faced along the way. All the reasons she should NOT have started this company. But Mary Kay had a mother who her entire life, whenever Mary Kay faced a challenge, always told her, "I know you can do this, Mary Kay." And little Mary Kay would go out and face her challenges and her obstacles. So when life told her all the reasons she should NOT start this company, Mary Kay claimed those same words from her mother, and SHE DID IT. (If you get a chance, read her story. She inspired so so many people with her values and principles and work ethic.)

I am thankful for the amazing women this opportunity has placed into my life. One of the things my Director told me when I first started this journey was that I would meet amazing women, and she was absolutely correct. Whether they be customers or sister consultants or directors or NSD's, this 'job' has placed many, many kind, gentle, inspiring, fun, caring, helpful women into my life. In Mary Kay you are in business for yourself, but you are never by yourself. One of the amazing things about this company is that the only way anyone moves ahead in this company is by helping others and bringing them ahead with you. How refreshing is that in a world where in most businesses in order to get ahead, one must jump over others to get ahead. Not in Mary Kay. Not at all.

I have not built the team I hope to build, nor have I made the money I hope to make, but that's my own fault. I haven't worked my Mary Kay as hard as I could. (which is another amazing thing about this company, Mary Kay encourages each woman to work her business the way she wants; the way it fits into her individual life) But I have gotten so much more from my Mary Kay business than anything money can buy. First and foremost is the friends this company has brought into my life, (previous paragraph), but I have grown so much as a person as I have been on this journey. This company has taught me to step out of my comfort zone and discover sides of my personality I never knew existed. I have grown stronger and more confident, and you can not put a price tag on that.

Oh, even with all I have said, I could say so much more about my Mary Kay, and all my sister consultants I'm sure would agree .... but I will forever be thankful to God and toBeth Hirsch Lange for bringing Mary Kay to my life and me to Mary Kay.......!!

and, I also must mention that whenever I have a really bad day and I decide to visit "Pity City", I have a husband who looks me straight in the eyes and tells me that I can do this....no matter what "this" is on any particular day,Mark Geiger encourages me and is my biggest fan and supporter.

Day 16 ... Today I'm thankful for alcohol. Sometimes I really do just want a nice cold frosty beer, especially on a cold winter day. (OK, a cool winter South Texas day) Some nights a glass of wine is nice. Sipping (yeah, like I 'sip') on some Bailey's Irish Cream is yummy. Crown XR ..... mmmmm
and some nights just call for drinking nicely chilled cheap champagne out on the back porch with your husband and a fire surrounded by all of your furry babies.

Day 15 .... (yes, I am a day behind)
all those little comforts we take for granted. Today I'm thankful for them.
I have a roof over my head. A nice roof at that. It's not big. It's not fancy. But it's comfy and it's cozy and it's home. And it has a bed. At night I get to crawl into that bed with two cats and sometimes a husband and I get to nestle and snuggle and fall peacefully asleep.
And

 it has indoor plumbing. I can shower and brush my teeth and other things anytime I want. Anytime I need.
And it has a kitchen. That has electricity. And food. And I never go hungry .... unless I choose to.
And it has a yard. And even though the grass and weeds can drive me crazy, I have a yard. For my doggies. And my chickens.
And I'm happy. And I'm comfortable. And not everyone has a roof or a bed or indoor plumbing or food.
And I do.
And I'm thankful.

Day 14 .... Sadly, some people are raised in a home with a mom and a dad and their siblings. I feel a bit sorry for them. This was NOT the life for me, and I think mine ROCKED.
You know how sometimes the smallest things in life can become the biggest? The summer before I was to enter the second grade, 'the three of us' moved out of our little apartment on Bomar and into a HUGE apartment in the

Storybook Apartment Complex. I mean, while this one still only had one bathroom, it had two (count 'em...TWO!) bedrooms. Kristi and I would no longer have to share a room with our mom. Our mom would no longer have to sleep on the couch. Sing along with me..."Well we're moving on up...!!"
Little did any of us know how much this move would change our lives. But God did. God placed us right smack next door to Lucy (a divorced mother) and her two daughters Karen and Kathryn. And all of us girls were quite close in age; Kristi and Kathryn both being born in 1961, me being born in the best year, and Karen following in '63. We all hit it off immediately. Instead of having a family with a mom and dad and a house ... we got two moms, instant siblings and two attached apartments. I was in their apartment every bit as much as I was in my own. I was disciplined by Lucy every bit as much as I was disciplined by my own mother. And I know that goes for everyone else as well. Karen, Kathryn and Lucy became our family, and we became theirs.
Most of the time, Kristi and Kathryn were running buddies, because, let's face it, they were so much more mature than me and Karen. And most of the time, Karen and I were running buddies, because we were so much more fun than those two snooty older ones. But on any given day, with just the right fight, the dynamics easily changed.
Our moms became best friends as well. After work the two of them would feed us the proverbial pot pie (mmm!) or tuna noodle casserole (ick!), and then they would sit out on the back porch smoking their cigarettes, drinking their adult beverages, and listening to (who else?) Kris Kristofferson. They would talk about their days, their dreams, their defeats. And they would sit on that back porch overlooking that empty field with that warehouse sticking out like a sore thumb, and they would talk, and they would drink and they would notice how much it bugged the crap out of them that someone had mispelled "warehouse". The sign read "wharehouse". And of course, there is no "H" in "warehouse", but low and behold, there is an "H" in "whorehouse", so with a bit of paint and a bit of alcohol, our mothers fixed the sign. (I think this is where we all get our need to edit.... we came by it honestly. We got it from our mothers) And we lived this way for a few years, and then we moved. We all moved into an even HUGER apartment. This time we moved into Brookwood apartments where we not only had two bedrooms, but we now had two bathrooms!! And my mom got married. And even though we lived in the same complex, we no longer lived next door. We no longer shared a common wall. And eventually Lucy would remarry and move to a house. And we would eventually move to a house. But we have stayed forever friends. Forever family.
Sadly, Lucy is no longer with us. She died a few years ago. I remember being at that hospital with Lucy and my mom. Lucy had just been moved to a new room. Lucy's chart and belongings hadn't made the transition yet, but we had. Lucy's mouth was dry. Desperately dry. In her gravelled voice she was asking for water. My mom told me to go to the nurse's station and get a cup of water. I tried, but I was told that they hadn't received her chart yet, and once they checked everything out, they would bring in some water. ...and that is when my mom went all "Terms of Endearment" on their asses. I sat with Lucy as my mom stormed down to the nurses station. I could hear my mom as she told those nurses that Lucy was dying. That she was going to die no matter what. She was going to die with water and she was going to die without water. And the least they could do was to make her comfortable for the little time she had left. And my mom came waltzing back into that room without saying a word but holding a cup of ice chips. If you have to die, you want my mom by your side.
So yeah, today I'm thankful for my mixed-up family ... the one with two moms and four little girls. I'm thankful forKaren Elizabeth Kalberer and Kathryn K. Stepanski and Lucy. They are the best.

 

Day 13 ... so many, many things to be thankful for. I won't fit them all into November.
Today I'll be thankful for my mom and my sister, because so far I haven't been. (wait, maybe I worded that wrong.)

Anyway: My mom sacrificed so much for me and Kristi, much of which I probably will never know, but I know she did. We were dirt poor growing up, but we always had what we needed. We didn't ha

ve much, but we were happy. And one thing I will always say about living in apartments is that (a) you always had other kids to play with, and (b) you always had a pool. I didn't know it at the time, but I now know just how much my mother struggled. We didn't often go to church (my mom didn't drive), but we always had God. We always had our devotions. (Eden now has our devotional book) And .... the worst thing my mom did (OK, not really) was she taught us honesty and integrity. Our inside joke, between Kristi and me, is that our mom raised us so honest, that we can't tell a lie. Even now, can't do it.
Not sure how many of y'all know Kathleen Madigan, but she is a comedian. She talks about her sister and describes her sister as a blonde labrador retriever. Perpetually happy. That is my sister. Kristi holds a great deal of pain inside, but few ever see it. She chooses to see the blessings in life. She chooses to be happy. No matter what her circumstances, her glass is ALWAYS half full. always.

So today, and everyday, I'm thankful for our little family of three .... because when I look back on my childhood, it was the three of us. (and Karen and Kathryn and Lucy; maybe they'll be tomorrow)