Forever Old at Heart

Have you ever felt out of place? Perhaps it was a party. Perhaps it was a conversation. Perhaps it was you clothes. I feel out of place, quite frequently, in this century. I have spent most of my life doting over days of yore. As a little girl I never ceased to play "pioneer." When a teenager, I yearned to wear my hair in perfect curls with a 1940s hat pinned on top and a hankie from my beau tucked safely away in my little handbag. 

The music, the clothes, the etiquette, and the honor--so much entices me about decades of the past. It seems that in the days of my grandmothers, "everyone" went to church and held similar principles. Things were simple…or at least simpler. 

But as I have dug deeper into conversations with those of my desired decades, I have learned that things were far from perfect, just more hidden. However, it was a time when people were less selfish and self-promoting. They were not constantly posting pictures of themselves (taken by themselves) and being their own glorified cheerleaders. They were going to war. They were raising families. They were growing up. And they knew life was not about them. 

And perhaps that is the main thing. In a world that is continually focusing on what WE want, who WE are, how WE will yell the loudest and the proudest, there is a chance to look beyond such a narrow existence. 

The reason for living is to praise God, not myself. And while I will always delight in antiques, retro styles, and old traditions, I live in the twenty-first century, and I consider it a fabulous challenge. 

There are wars. There are people sucked into their tech gadgets. There is confusion over what it means to be human. But there is also (as always) Hope. 

So let's dance to this music of life, whether it be a waltz in a hoop skirt or some hip-hop in sweatpants.

Keep the Faith,

Audrey Ann


Credits:
picture 1: "Rosie the Riveter Goes to War" from envisioningtheamericandream.com
picture 2: free clip art from Google Images