THE ELEVATOR OF LIFE

These are sentiments I picked up on a friend’s Facebook and she got it somewhere on the Internet. They are marvelous words to live by. “There comes a time in life when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. Surround yourself with people who make you laugh, forget the bad and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right. Pray for those who don’t. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is part of life and getting back up is living.” We all have to get up sometime in life and we need no escalator or elevator to get us up there where we belong. When I was a kid, all department store elevators had what was called elevator operators. They were usually women, once in a while a man was there and she had this big wheel and she raised the elevator and it moved from floor to floor. When she reached for instance, the second floor, she would say “Floor number two, men’s and ladies’ shoes, children’s clothing, and there is a cafeteria where you could buy an inexpensive lunch or snack.” Then she turned the wheel handle and you would be on floor three. She would relate all the departments on floor three and if you wanted that floor to shop, you got off and the circle continued all the way up to the top floor. Usually on the top floor there was a lovely restaurant with cloth tablecloths and napkins and there would usually be male waiters to serve you in an elegant style of that period in time. Probably the most expensive meal was all of five dollars and it included a cup of soup, the main choice of meat, fish or chicken, veggies and a dessert. They served tiny rolls along with the meal and coffee was usually the drink of the day. Some of the stores had models walking about as you ate displaying a nice dress from the dress department. They smiled sweetly and sometimes they had a piano player play some catchy tunes. It was a kind of elegance to eat there and if you had five dollars, you really had a great time. They took no reservations, you stood in a line and when a table was open, you were called from a list they had at the entrance. Sometimes, they had male waiters and after a time of going there, they would call you by name. You met your friends and family there and they were not open on Sundays, as all of the department stores as they were called then were closed on Sundays. You would get a lift from eating there and if you had a bad day, this helped to let you get ‘back up’ and you would feel better. If you did not have the five dollars plus tip, no sales tax on food then, you could go up the street to a cafeteria huge in size called Harvest and get delicious full meals for about three dollars including the tip and no tax. Every night was a special dish added to the menus and they gave huge portions. In those days, no matter how poor you were, nobody ever took home left over portions. The first time I saw a take home bag was when my well to do aunt came from Florida and I took her to dinner at a Chinese restaurant and when we were all through, she asked the waiter for a container and she took home all of the uneaten white rice which they had served to all of us. I could not believe a woman of her means would do that, but then, I saw others doing the same thing. This was about in 1965. She was the kind of person who you liked to be in her company, because she had something nice to say about everyone and she sincerely meant it.She was my step aunt and I really liked her so much. When you were in her company, she was the type of person who lifted you up and you need not walk away from any drama. She was the kind you wanted to surround yourself with and she made you focus on good things. She talked a lot, but her feeling nice about everyone she knew including you, made it worthwhile to be in her presence. She was always happy and she had married when she was in her real late thirties, which then was quite old and she inherited two children from my uncle who was a widower and she was kind and found happiness in simple events and things. To her life was too short to be anything but happy and she was indeed joyful, because she found a fine fellow and she was finally married and delighted to be no longer single. She had traveled the world and it was unusual then to know someone who had been to Europe many times. I found her to make us smile when we were with her. So if we meet someone who makes us smile, and who treats us like we are a treasure, you need to walk towards them and appreciate being with them, even if it is now and then. With her it was like once a year because she lived in Florida and she came up to see relatives every twelve months. I looked forward to seeing her and her smile was captivating and sincere. There is a saying that relates “A wonderful thought is that some of the best days of our lives haven’t happened yet.” It is nice to contemplate that they will come to us when we least expect it and the surprise when they come will be so exciting and we will remember it for the rest of our life. I think sometimes as I approach my eighty-second birthday in June, maybe I will become famous from my stories and articles and I can see the headline now in advance. It will say “Fame comes late to senior one year away from age eighty-two.” I will get my hair done, my fingernails done, my toe nails done and I will lose ten pounds, so I can get into a nice dress I have that is too tight now. I will wish that Mom and Dad and my brother could see me written up and how proud they would be. Of course, my children and grandchildren will tell all they know that this is their Mom and Grandmother and how proud they are of me. My husband will stand by my side at the photo shoot and smile even though he does not want to be there for a photo. We will hold hands and say we are married now for the long time of fifty-six years and how we met on a blind date etc. Then I will buy up all the write-ups at the supermarket that have my pictures on the cover of the magazines celebrating that an old lady made it big time at eighty.-two. Dreams are nice, reality is better and so this wonderful thought is part of the best days that have not happened yet. We can all think about when this best day’s event will happen to us and the anticipation is almost as great as the event itself. So walk away from any drama in your now life and people who are in it, laugh, smile, dream and focus on the good time or times coming to you soon. Life is too short to be anything but happy and if you fall down, get back up and be on that elevator of life and go from floor to floor of living and go to the top where all the goodies are awaiting you and yours. 1 Across Maryland