Extraordinary and Remarkable

The journey of 1000 miles begins with one step. When we start to learn to ballroom dance, we take one step at a time. There is a dance saying, you need to move your other left foot. That is being facetious when said in jest. They mean you have two feet, one left, and one right. Learning to dance is hard enough and moving the correct foot going backward if you are a lady and forward if you are a man is not as easy as it looks. After about one lesson, you know your right from your left and everything is fine. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary (not my words, a saying in the saying section of Google) is that little word “extra.’ We can attempt to do extra things every day in our customary life. We can eat a little extra something delicious even though we are trying to diet; we can email someone we have not been in contact with for a while, that is extra; we can do it the old fashioned way and call someone on the phone and that is an extra happening; we can work an extra couple of hours at our job; we can bake an extra dessert for dinner; we can tell someone we love, that we love them one extra time and there are many extras, we can do in our life every day. When I was a kid and there was no TV yet, no computers or Google yet, no air conditioning yet, there was an extra thing that could happen. It was called an extra newspaper that got printed up at once when the incident occurred and the newspaper boys would be called in by the newspapers that moment to come and stand on the corners to yell out “Extra, Extra.” Everyone within range of his voice heard it, gathered the coins needed to obtain a copy and I think it cost then like ten cents. People rushed to the corner where the voice was coming from and some newsboys would roam the neighborhood hoping someone in the house heard him and he could make the sale. I think the newsboys, my brother was one and my husband told me he was one too, all those sixty-five or more years ago, made about three cents per paper they sold. This was the way you received your ‘extra ‘news. There was no news bulletins flashed on the screen like now days, because there was not a screen other than in the movie theaters. We went there once a week to watch the current movie and before the movie started, they had the national news of the previous week splashed across the screen for us to actually see what had happened during that week. That was where we ‘saw’ what had taken place worthy of being presented then, before the actual movie you came to see was shown. Extraordinary is quite an extraordinary word. It means unusual, exceptional and remarkable. I know some exceptional and remarkable folks. My dad was a remarkable man who took lots of strikes to his financial needs. Yet he held his head high, did what he could for the family and was very smart. He believed as I have related many times, that the future was bright and he would see the light of it someday. My brother was a smart guy, a bit loud in his opinions on things, but that was alright, he had a right to them as we seem to see lots of people now days speaking their minds more than ever. My mom was a sweet, dear lady who always put her children’s needs and wants before her own. I have related before, that she wore patches under the arms of her cute little dresses; because she wore that part of the material out because she was a typist in an office and all that movement did that to the clothing. After the boss bought her one of the first electric typewriters, the stress under the dress did not happen. She learned to sew a nice patch and match it up and so no one saw the added material over the worn material. Then her cute dresses remained intact and she always looked so put together. She matched her costume jewelry necklaces and earrings to the color of the dresses and her purse and shoes always matched each other and to the dress. Finally, pants suits came in for women in about 1960 or so and she purchased her first one and it was hard for her to get use to wearing pants. She did though and looked quite stylish in her pants suits and went on a cruise and had many to change into every day of the trip. Her hair was always coiffed in a neat manner and one of her joys each week was the investment she made to her hair at the beauty salon every Saturday. She never missed a week and when she had her back operation at age seventy, I had a male hairdresser who lived in the neighborhood complex, come to her home and do her ‘do’ (hairdo).That made her recuperation from the back surgery go pleasanter for her. I look back and think of myself as kind of remarkable too in many ways. I will not list all of them, but the main thing was that I was a remarkable daughter to Mom and Dad, while they were alive and when Dad passed on when I was the young age of thirty; I stepped in to help her ease into widowhood in the best way I knew how. She came to visit often, maybe twice a week and when she obtained a nice job with the State Of Maryland at age fifty-seven, she became more occupied and more independent. She worked five days a week, and started to take journeys into vacationland. She went to Spain, a cruise, California, Israel and other spots. Her horizons were enlightened and brightened and that was good for her soul. She deserved all the great times she had in later years. I was a remarkable worker in the workplace and rose from an office worker to be the assistant to the CEO of a large printing company. When I was married and no longer working there, we saw the former boss at a dinner affair. Computers had just come out then for the regular people, offices got them before that. He told my husband “Elita had a computer for a mind, long before computers were invented. Her mind stored all the information in our office and when she left after she married you, we had to get in lots of new business tools to keep the office running.” That was a nice tribute. I think without being modest, that I have a terrific and clear memory of the things I recall about my young years, my married years, my relatives, friends, acquaintances, the city, the state, the happenings everywhere I frequented and that is why I am successful ( no modesty again, sorry) in writing these stories from the past for Hunt Valley-Cockeysville.Patch.com. Sometimes, I surprise my 81 year old mind with what I remember and how clearly I do recall it. Today, another remarkable thing happened. For the second time in thirty-four months, I have become a GREAT GREAT Aunty of a newborn great, great niece to my own great niece, who had her yesterday. That is nice being great about almost anything, but to be a great, great is certainly quite great.She has a big brother too, almost three years her senior. So I accomplished this twice. Remarkable is a remarkable word. It connotes something important and good. We are all important and pretty good people too. The journey of 1000 miles began with one step; we have taken many dear and wonderful steps since our journey began. May it continue to move forward, step by step for a very long and remarkable time. elita sohmer clayman Fairfax Station Patch