All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go....

I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin' it's early morn
The taxi's waitin' he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I tell you now, they don't mean a thing
Every place I go, I'll think of you
Every song I sing, I'll sing for you
When I come back, I'll bring your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time let me kiss you
Close your eyes I'll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times, I won't have to say

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh baby, I hate to go

Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

~john denver

Oh, Babe I hate to go....But I am so glad I am leaving.

It's been a weird & wild ride through the streets of the online business world....I got completely lost in it, much like I get lost in the real world.... Where has the time gone, I cannot believe its been a year and half since I first started!

How do they do it??

I Babysat for only a few hours today and had to ask myself this very question.....

The beauty of subtle imperfections

Vintage photo c1950s from the collection of Allan J. Delay*

Page 4 of The Importance of Being Imperfect

"Suppose that a woman of our day [context 1961] desiring to be socially perfect were to be dropped into medieval western Europe. She would at once have to shave her head back to the center of the crown, in conforming to a custom of those days which ultimately was to give us our expression "highbrow". On the street this unhappy perfectionist would have to get rid of her shopper's stare. Unless she fixed her eyes on a spot of ground two rods ahead of her...in any case she could be considered socially suspect for having raised her eyes at all.

Since all these requirements might be offensive to our modern woman, let us shift her forward in time to see what happens to her in the late seventeenth century in England. Here, as one of the intelligent ladies about town she must give evidence that she has a mind. Preferably she should be brunette, carry a book, exhibit easy knowledge of its contents, never give an inch in debate with men, and in fact dangle them over the coals of her wit. Perfect behavior then called for women to be clever and incisive. But suppose, once our adaptable friend had read the book, adopted the incisiveness, and taken relish in her new mental freedom, we plucked her out of time once more and placed her in the middle of eighteenth-century England. Now she would be truly out of place. Women in this century of sentimentality were supposed to be blond, blue-eyed, weep frequently, exhibit fluttery bewilderment and lovable stupidity when confronted with books and ideas. Above all, they were supposed to look into the great man's eyes and say, "How True!" to whatever he said. Surely now, tired of her quest for the perfect, she would have to sit down and concede that what seems perfect in one century turns out to be perfectly awful in the next"

I quote this book because I find its title intriguing....it encourages me to look at the world in a new light. To be open, honest & to enjoy the subtle imperfections...

The definition of perfectionism for those completely unfamiliar...Perfectionism: [n] A propensity for being displeased with anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards. (according to dictionary.com)
More to come from this book....

A fancy human being

An abnormal, yet wonderful looking beehive, circa 1960s!

Page 13 of The Importance of Being Imperfect
"Today as during the Romantic movement, what we usually want unconsciously is a fancy human being with no flaws. When the mental picture we have of someone we love is colored by the wishes of childhood, we may love that picture rather than the real person behind it. Naturally, we are disappointed when the person we love does not conform to our picture. Since this kind of disappointment has no doubt happened to us before, one might suppose we would then tear up the picture and start all over. On the contrary we keep the picture and tear up the person. Small wonder that divorce courts are full of couples who never gave themselves a chance to know the real persons behind the pictures in their lives....Our need for an imperfectionist attitude could be said to be based on the fact that we cannot enjoy what we are perpetually choking in ourselves or others. One of the greatest gifts we can bestow on another person is to allow breathing room for that person. When we refuse to provide room for that which does not harmonize with our picture of the perfect, we are takers of life in the name of LOVE."

"The Importance of Being Imperfect"

The title of this book literally jumped off the shelf at me, and there in the inside front flap of this hard covered book was the name of my great grandmother... Written by John Robert Clarke copyright 1961 from David McKay Company, Inc. NY

"Modern life today, with all its scientific and social advance, has continued to produce a surprising number of humorless, anxious men and astringent, nerveless women who say they are not perfect and behave as though they were. The wide public belief that these perfectionists comprise only a minority group of superior souls who work harder than anybody, and refer to its oftener, is not quite true. In their striving to reach or to maintain a fancied state of flawlessness they have virtually every aspect of modern society.
Wherever found--in the bassinet, at the kitchen sink, at the stockholder's meeting, on the leaky garage roof, at church socials or behind college podiums, they have one telltale characteristic in common: perfectionists are picture straighteners on the walls of life"

In response, I think its about time that we try to embrace our imperfections, and enjoy the humor that life brings....

In this blog I intend to quote from random vintage books that have long been forgotten. Most of these books are now available online. And also, I intend to post goofy photos of people whose faces will most likely be forgotten by history, but whose history will remain in a unique image....one that at least I appreciate :)

To read the book I quoted above just download it for free

*A crooked picture on the "wall of life": a vintage photo of a goofy guy with big ears & a plaid tie..