Wise Not Withered

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-23ebw-153a083

“I am truly a positive person. So what you see on my Instagram is just what you get. You know, that might not make you the most popular person. But it makes it much, much, much easier for me, because I’m just being myself.

Mhm. Yeah, can you talk more about that? What made you think of that just now?

I thought about it, because I think sometimes, you see so much doom and gloom… Every social media, everywhere. And then sometimes, when you look at that, or if it’s not the doom and gloom, it’s the… You know, the people talking about being stressed all the time, or body conscious all the time. You know, it’s always negative! And I wonder, why? I mean, is that all people go through in life? Negativity? Yes, I have had moments that I’m pissed off, upset, have gone through things… But you cannot let that just rule and take over your life.”

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Welcome to the Wise Not Withered podcast! We are in Season 4, and this is Episode 10. This month’s guest is Vickie Heath Glosson. I found her on Instagram, where she describes herself as “Gray hair beauty influencer and motivator with an eclectic lifestyle. Encouraging personal growth and a beacon of positivity and creativity.” She truly is just so varied in all of her interests and activities that she does. She talks about her upbringing, as well as all kinds of things she’s into now, such as her hair, her gardening, her teaching, her collaborations (being an ambassador for various beauty products), and she truly is just such a warm, beautiful soul. It was such a pleasure to talk to her and listen to her share so much about her life. And I will let her tell the rest of the story! Enjoy!

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Cool! All right! Let’s just dive right in!

Let’s go for it!

What is your age?

I am 66!

66, excellent. And where did you grow up?

I grew up in the state of Texas, in a small city called Galena Park. It’s right on the outskirts of Houston. So… Houston, Texas.

Okay, nice. And where else have you lived?

I am a born and raised Texan! Yeah! I’m right here. My parents both came from Louisiana, and they settled here in Houston in the mid-50’s.

Okay. Cool, do you know what brought them to where you are now?

Of course! They grew up in the Northern part of Louisiana, and after my mom and dad got married, they settled in Seattle, Washington for a while. But since their parents were in Louisiana, they went back and stayed for a while. But they kinda wanted to live their life on their terms. And they decided on Houston.

My parents were… My dad was a lawyer. My parents were business people. We had a café, growing up. They settled in Houston to do that. In Northern Louisiana, it was a small town… Opportunities were just not there. And so they decided to move on.

Cool, and what do you do for a living? I know you have—you do so many things, but yeah what’s like the main thing, if there is one?

So many things… Actually, educator! I have taught for forty-five years.

Wow!

Actually I retired, then I got rehired because I missed it a little bit. I did that… I started teaching at a very young age of 21, and I taught in the Houston and Galena Park districts. So basically that’s it. I’m an educator, of mostly middle school and high school.

Okay, nice. Oh my gosh. Definitely an eclectic lifestyle, as you say on your page. How did you get into teaching?

Well, my family has been deep into education. Actually, all my sisters above me… And I’ma just step back for a minute: there are eleven of us, okay. Mom and Dad had eleven children, and none of us are twins. My mom actually always wanted to be a teacher, and so I think over the years, hearing her talking about it on the regular… It just got instilled in us, because education was always really important. My grandmother, on my dad’s side, was a teacher for years. So I really came from a long line of educators. So it just became a part… As a matter of fact, my oldest sister right now has been teaching for fifty-five years—in one district!

Wow!

Yes, yes. But all my sisters—and I have brothers. Brothers didn’t go into the teaching. But all my sisters above me—which I am seven from the top! There are, what… Three sisters over me.

Okay. Wow. So just a whole family of teachers.

Yes, teachers, educators of some sort.

Mhm. Okay. Yeah, and what has made you stay in it?

Well, what happened is… I do do a lot of things. I spend a lot of time… I just love the kids! I retired for four years. And then my mom passed, okay… And after she did, my kids were in college. My younger two were in college still. I was like, “Let me sub for a little bit.” So I went in and substituted. I was teaching anyway. I could not be that person just sitting back and not helping my students. And so I went, “Well you know what? If I’m teaching anyway, I’ll just go ahead and go back.” And that’s what I did. I said, “If I get hired, I get hired. If not… You know, I won’t worry about it. I’m retired. It’s been four years. I’m good.” And my second interview, I got hired again! So I said, “Okay, I’ll do this!” It’s been almost six years now since I’ve been back.

Nice! Awesome. All right, yeah… I love so many things that I saw on your profile. One of them was “Encouraging personal growth”. What does personal growth mean to you?

Oh gosh… Just continue doing things, you know? Keep living life, having fun. Yes, there’s always gonna be setbacks, that’s normal. But you just have to persevere. You just have to say, “Okay, that happened. I made a mistake, perhaps.” I’ve learned, and move on! I believe in living, loving, and laughing! That’s kind of my motto. It did not just happen. I was a little quieter in my earlier years, but I’ve always believed that. I believe in family. Doing things that make you happy! If it doesn’t make me happy, I move on.

Yeah, that’s great! I love that. And what does make you happy? I’m sure there’s tons of things, but what comes to mind first?

Family! Family. I love family. I’ve always been family-oriented. I was close daughter to my mother and father. And my children! Oh my goodness. We do so, so much together. I love having them here with me, being around them, doing adventurous things with them. And you know, we’ll just… Family. Family is just the bottom line. They just keep my heart beating. I’m excited about that. And of course, now I have two grand-daughters… That’s just the icing on the cake. (Laughs)

(Laughs) Ah, that’s so cute. What was your relationship like with your mom?

Oh my… We were really close. When I was growing up, like I said I was a little quieter. I was seventh, so I kind of sat back and watched. But she was very, very supportive. The song that I love, love, love—that I feel represents our relationship the most—you know, the wind beneath my wings!

Yeah!

Because she had always been there. Beautiful woman, beautiful heart, very supportive… She’s the one, when I came home from dance classes, just if I learned a new step. She may be in the middle of something, and she’s gonna stop. Whether she liked it or not, it’s like “Oh my goodness, look at you! You done a great job.” You know, she always gave me time. Middle of the night sometimes, I wake up… She’ll be in there sewing. Instead of swishing me back, to go to bed, “Come here, come on! Let me teach you this.” She taught me embroidery, taught me how to sew. And a lot of things were just her and me. I was interested, she knew I was. And if I wanted to learn from her, I did.

You may have noticed, a lot of the pictures are gardening! Oh my gosh. She was an exceptional gardener. And I was right there with her, trying to learn as much as I could about everything. I wondered, “How do you know all this?” You know, remember all that? And I just kind of amazed myself, now, when I can go and do the same, and my kids are right there with me. They’re like, “Mom, how do know all this?”

Ah, I love that!!

But she was… Yeah, just a wonderful person. You know, of course, we had our ups and downs, just like any other mother and daughter, but… An amazing woman. I’m that one to say, “When I grow up, I want to be like you.” A role model.

Yeah… Oh, that’s beautiful. I love that. Yeah, maybe can you talk more about your gardening?

Oh gosh! Oh wow! Okay! I’ve always had a garden. Even in my single days, always had one… 2019 was a real transformation. My son and I—cause I have a son that stays here with me. We had grass in the backyard, the whole works, a courtyard. We decided, you know, let’s do something! He’s very creative. We kinda bonded here together, got our thoughts together. We cleared out every piece of grass, weeds, and we revamped it.

It was really nice, took a while… Then covid hit. It was horrible, a terrible time in life, but we made so much out of it. We went through our whole, entire backyard. We dug it up. We transformed it! And it’s my little paradise—my piece of paradise. We made a biometric type of gardening. A place where not only my family and myself, but for the animals. All the birds… We set it up, the garden for butterflies, the bees. We wanted nature to be part of the yard. That’s how we set it up.

I was taught earlier that when you do gardening, whether it’s a flower garden or vegetable garden, whatever. You know, you do it enough to have enough for yourself, and enough for the animals. They come in and eat your tomatoes, or pick your peppers, whatever they do. There’s always extra. So that’s what we wanted. That’s the way we wanted the garden to be, and that’s how it turned out.

We put gravel over the other areas. We have flower gardens, we have… Oh my gosh. I have peaches, apples, peppers, onions, garlic, greens. Just name it, it’s there. And I love living a healthy life. I love going outside to pick my garden. It has been very healthful, very calming. I’ve loved just sitting back, and watching what I’ve done! I’m very proud of it. So I’ve been keeping it up, and it looks amazing!

Oh, that’s great! How fun. I remember my dad grew some, I think tomatoes. I feel like it tastes a lot better, from the natural garden. (Laughs)

Oh, yes. And you know, they eat a little more than we want them to eat. (Laughs) But we don’t use pesticides. We just try to get there earlier and pick it before they do.

Yeah, that’s so interesting too, to leave enough for the animals too, since it’s inevitable that that’ll happen. Yeah. I love that! How about, can you talk about your hair?

Ahh! Yeah!! Yes, yes, yes. Okay. Yes, I will. It’s a very interesting story. First of all, I actually did… Rinse my hair one. What happened… I had younger children, for my age. My first child was born when I was 32, my last one I was 39. So I was an older parent. And I remember my hair growing out gray. And my youngest son said, “Mom, why don’t you dye your hair?” And remember now, he was around a lot of the younger parents, with blonde, bleach-blonde, or brown hair, whatever… I said, “Dye my hair? Why?” He said, “That way, it’d make you look younger. You oughta give it a try.” Remember now, he was in seventh grade, I believe it was.

And so, I was like, “Well…” I just kinda didn’t want to do that. He mentioned it again, and I said why not. I went in, got my hair rinsed, because I knew it would wash out after a certain amount of washes. It looked amazing! It did. I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. I’m kinda lazy though! (Laughs) I’m kinda lazy when it comes to even dealing with the hair.

I loved it for the moment. You know, I’m happy that I did it. But when it grew out, I was okay. I did this, he thought it was amazing, everyone thought it was amazing. But it wasn’t to the point where I could see myself in the chair, every what, six or eight weeks, getting my hair redone. Nobody said anything else about it from that point. So that was it! It went from a streak of gray right here, in the middle. That streak, years ago, my mom used to say… It was auburn color when I was growing up. She said “It’ll be the first part of your hair that turns gray.” Yes, I had those lovely brothers that called me, you know, skunk! There was a cartoon Josie and the Pussycats. One of the ladies on there had that hair…

But anyway, it continued on. I just went back, after a while. I said, “I love it!” I get compliments. An it’s so amazing. Over the years, I’ve gotten more compliments from men versus women. That was shocking. I was like, “What?” That was pretty interesting. I’ve just kept it. I love it. It’s just easy. And just went from there. Yeah, that’s my hair! Love my hair. And if I had to do it over again, I’d probably do the same.

Yeah, that’s great. All right, so I’ve seen you’ve done a lot of collaborations. You’ve been featured, you’ve been an ambassador… There’s so much! Can you talk about all of that?

Wow… It started with hair. Different companies, that’s where it started. I’m very happy about that. It was during a time where you just did not see women with gray hair, being featured for anything! So it started there, which… That was wonderful. It should have always been a part. When I think about the collaborations, I love the fact that the majority of them kept that in mind: it was because of the gray hair. That’s why I was chosen in the first place, with a lot of them.

With some of them, it’s hard on your hair, because by your hair being this light, certain products turn it green or blue or… (Laughs) We had to learn what did and did not work! So that was kinda interesting, because if you’re gonna collaborate with people and you try the products… I like to be transparent. I’m not gonna sit here and say a product is super great if it’s NOT! Especially when I’m talking to women with light hair, white or silver hair. I always try my products. I let them know, “Hey, I have to do this for a week or two, so I can at least see some kind of reaction.”

Then it moved on to facial products, and then it just became collaborations with a little bit of both. Even with that… If it’s gonna break me out, you know, I’m gonna like, “Okay…!?” I show a picture of it, but I probably won’t talk a whole lot about it. Because I don’t want to deceive people when I get products, just to get paid. I would prefer not getting paid for it, if I could just jump in front of my audience and say, “Yeah! This product works!” This and that. No, I don’t work like that.

As a matter of fact, there’s one I’m working on now, and I’ve only had it for like a week. “Oh, when you gonna come out?” I said, “I haven’t used it long enough!” (Laughs) I said, “I’ll do it so-and-so time.” But yes, I like doing the collaborations. I do a few that are free, but the majority of them I do get paid for them. Yes.

Awesome.

Yeah. I just put one out now, it’s with Moderna. I’ve done one previously with the others, so… It’s pretty good. I’m trying to get to a point where you know, when I retire next time around, I don’t have to go back to teaching. So after a while, you’re kinda like, “Oh it’s that time again.”

Yeah, what was it like to have the first one? Was it surprising to get an email? Or… What was your reaction to that?

It was like, “Oh goodness!” Wow! That was so cool! And I’m like, “Okay!!” You know… But that was so amazing. I was very excited about that. You’ve probably heard of them. So that was my first ambassador one. Probably… I’m trying to think back. There’s been a lot of them. It’s exciting! And it’s still exciting, after years! And you’re excited because the people see you, notice you, and figure, she is… We like what she does well enough to even want to communicate with her.

I do pick and choose! There are a lot of scammers out there, yes. They’ll put in, “You’re from this, we’re from that.” And you have to really be careful with that. Check emails, check links, you check all those things before you jump into it. That’s the harder part, and I’m glad I have young children! (Laughs) Cause they say, “Mom, that’s a fake account! Check that again.” Or they check it for me. And sometimes if it sounds too good to be true, it IS too good to be true.

But that said, there have been a lot of really good ones, that you would think, “Yeah, sure.” And they’re really good ones, and legit! So, just have to be real careful. I’m very, very picky about that. Because… Yeah, you don’t want your information out there to be stolen. Even though a lot of it gets stolen anyway! (Laughs) You do your best to not let it get stolen.

Yeah, interesting… I also see that you’re into yoga too?

You know, I’m into a healthy lifestyle. Let’s put it that way. Yoga… I was a ballet dancer… Oh my goodness, pretty much the last dance I did I was like 30 years old. So, I just do what makes me feel good. I love stretching! Being limber. I do yoga moves, I do ballet moves. I do some strength training, jogging…

So I kinda just, at this age, I mix what’s best for me. Stretching is the most important part. I can do that, I’ve learned all of that, and I just put it together, and work with it in ways that makes it great for me. You know? I would show it, yes, I do the yoga poses. Did I learn how to do the splits from yoga? No, I learned that from dance! You know what I’m saying? Or my backbend was from my acrobat… I used to be into acrobatics when I was younger.

And I just kept up with them over the years. And yes, at 66, I can still do a backbend. Yes, I can still do the splits! Cartwheel, you know, those kinds of things. I just kept up with it over the years, because it just made me feel good. At the time it wasn’t because of my Instagram. It was because I wanted to do it, and prove things to myself. Hey, can I still do this? And yes. I keep it up. I can’t just specify one thing that I do. It’s a blend. It’s a blend of all that I’ve learned over the years.

Yeah, that’s great! When did you first make your Instagram page? And what was the motivation?

I think the first… I’m thinking it was like 2017. When I did it, it was just because… I just did it. I’m a shoe-a-holic! I started off with just shoes! (Laughs) It was because my kids were doing it, and I was like, “Oh that sounds cool.” They said I should give it a try. But I think 2017 was my first year, if I’m not mistaken. And then I just did a little bit… I think that first year, probably twenty posts, just a little bit. Then I just built it over the years. Yeah. It had to be 2017. I was just showing off my shoes! From shoes, to hair and makeup. I don’t do the shoes quite as often anymore. But still a shoe-a-holic! Still love them.

(Laughs) That’s great. What kinds of things have you learned from your own children?

Oh gosh… Bless their hearts. You know what I’ve learned from them, from my own children. You know, they are so protective! Oh my goodness. I’m like “What? Get away!” My daughter would tell you. She would come in, and… I did not know it for a long time. But on my phone, she put the tracking! And one day she was talking about it, and I’m going like, “You’re tracking me?” She said, “Yes, cause you be gone and I have no idea where you are!” And I’m like, “Wait, what!?” Yes! I didn’t realize! I guess I was that protective of my parents? I don’t know. But all of them are so protective. So I learned that. It’s a good thing, I suppose, the tracking…

Let’s see… They are actually very helpful! Very outspoken. They’re outspokenness, I never would have been like that with my parents back then, but they are a little freer with that. So I’ve learned that if they say something, they mean it. They’re not afraid to voice their opinions on most anything. They’re very caring, very supportive. And well, just like I said, very protective. So those are some of the things I’ve learned. And learned, as they’ve grown… We’re friends! We’re actually friends. I like that. And the good part about being a mother: when you get tired of one, you can always go to the next one, you know? (Laughs) And then we come back together.

That’s pretty much it… But I learn a lot, especially about the internet. Years ago, we talked about Twitter. They would tell me, “Oh no, Mom, you don’t want to go on Twitter. It’s a cesspool. You know, you don’t want that.” I think I signed up for it, and only went on it maybe twice? I said, “You were right!” So I just… Don’t go. Different things like that. They help me with a lot of my social media, where to go, where not to go. How you can look for different links that are good or bad. They’re really good at that, they’re very creative. My younger two, son and daughter—they’re actually my Instagram team, my professional photographers.

Oh nice!

So my professional work goes through my children. They help with me putting things out they. I call them up, “Hey, how does this sound?” They listen, “Yeah, that’s pretty cool. You did great!” They’re my backup. You know, right now, with me going with this Fab Over 40 contest that I’m in. Even with that, I throw it out there, yes that’s cool, that’s not cool… You know, their creative minds. I like to kinda dig at it. Sometimes they’ll just jump out and give me some critique. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Once again, if I could do it all over again, I’d still pick those three. (Laughs)

Nice!

You know what, sometimes I seem kind of positive, positive, positive… I am! I am truly a positive person. So what you see on my Instagram is just what you get. You know, that might not make you the most popular person. But it makes it much, much, much easier for me, because I’m just being myself.

Mhm. Yeah, can you talk more about that? What made you think of that just now?

I thought about it, because I think sometimes, you see so much doom and gloom… Every social media, everywhere. And then sometimes, when you look at that, or if it’s not the doom and gloom, it’s the… You know, the people talking about being stressed all the time, or body conscious all the time. You know, it’s always negative! And I wonder, why? I mean, is that all people go through in life? Negativity? Yes, I have had moments that I’m pissed off, upset, have gone through things… But you cannot let that just rule and take over your life. It’s not good for your body, mind, you know, anything!

And when I do go through those moments, I sit there and focus on it for that time. And then after a while, it’s like… Okay. What can I do about it? And I take whatever I can do about it, I’ll do it. If I can’t do anything about it—especially if it’s somebody else’s hands… What am I supposed to do? You gonna make me stay mad just because you upset with something? And I just cannot do that.

You know, probably when I was younger, I would go in, close the door, and kinda pout to myself for a minute. Even now, that’s what I do. I just sit down like, okay. Yeah. Whatever. And I’ll just usually leave the situation. Does not mean that I will not voice my opinion, but if it’s on somebody else’s term, and I can’t change their mind… What I’m supposed to do about it?

I remember a song by Bonnie Raitt. And I’m going way back! (Laughs) It’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me”. I even thought about that through relationships over the years. They came and went, whatever. If the person don’t want to be there with you, they’re uncomfortable, and unhappy, miserable… I do not want to be that person standing in your way to make your life better. And I’ve always, over the years… We’re talking, I think that song came out, what, sometime in the 70’s… And it was always just a part of me! And I still believe that. You can’t make that happen. You have to just have that mindset: okay, I’m sad for a moment, but I’m happy for you. I’ve been in relationships like that. Did I ever get a broken heart? Of course I have. But there’s always tape and glue to mend it back together! And that’s what happens! As human beings, just like getting cut, it mends itself after a while. I think I look at life more in that direction. Whether I’ve had a bad breakup, or heartache, or broken toe—whatever it was! It’s gonna mend, and I just can’t give my time dwelling on it all the time.

I think that’s the reason… I have that happy and positive disposition of myself, because that was my dad. My dad especially was like that. He was always, “Is there anything you can do about it?” “…No.” “Okay.” (Laughs) So like I said, I had role models right there in my household. I think that’s why I’m pretty confident with myself, my life. If I can’t fit in your circle, being myself, I step out and make my own circle. You know? It’s just… That’s me.

When my children come to me with some of the same issues—cause a lot of what they go through now, I’ve been through it. You know, and I just try to put my two bits out there—you can either take it or leave it. After a while, I figure they’ve been thinking about it, cause they finally come back to me, “Yeah, you were right.” I’ve been through it! That’s what living 66 years do to ya! Give you an opportunity to live through a whole lot of stuff!! (Laughs) Whether you want to or not, it happens, I’ve gone through it. Yeah.

Yeah!

Oh my goodness. But yeah, it’s fun. It’s a fun life! I like doing stuff. Trying things… I’m very challenging, and bold at times. It’s just fun. I still swing and jump on monkey bars! You know? (Laughs) Because it’s fun! I got my two grand-daughters now, so they’re gonna see the fun side! I’m not the rocking chair grandma, sorry!

I love that, wow! Yeah, how has your view of yourself shifted over the decades?

I’ve always been pretty confident, okay? Now I let things go way easier. Let’s see… I was daring in my younger years. Probably more daring now, you know? As you get older, you seem to say, okay… When you’re in your 20s, it’s like, “I have time! I got time to do this and that.” Hell, when you get in your 60s, it’s like, “If not now, when!?”

Right!

Cause that clock is ticking! Even though you’ve gone through a lot, done a lot. You know, actually, I’m at a stage now, I should be able to do more, have more—I’m in a better financial moment to do more of the things that I probably couldn’t do in my 20s. Even growing up, with my children in my family, I had different priorities. I still have some… I started doing a lot of things—a lot of things I do now, I’m just better at it. I built upon it. It was something I had to do… If you had to write a letter to your younger self, what would you tell your younger self? And it’s basically, keep doing what you’re doing, because you’re only going to get better at it. Pretty much! Continue to be curious. Continue to go out there and go after what you want. I know a lot of people call it the “bucket list”. My bucket has fallen over, I picked it back up, threw extra things in it, burn it, and start it over again! So even with that, I don’t have a particular bucket list. I just do what I do, how I feel in the moment, and I just go for it. I go for it! Yeah!

Yeah, that’s great! What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve overcome?

One of the biggest challenges was… When I was… It was summer of 2011. Get my years right… I remember going—every single year I go get my well woman exam. So that summer, I went and it was August, I went to my doctor, did my check-up, just like any other time. And then it was so weird, the next day I got a call from my doctor. I’ve never gotten a call from my doctor. I’m like, “Okay, what is this?” You know? She said, “I have to tell you something. Do you want me to tell you now, or would you prefer coming into the office?” And I’m sitting in the car with my two kids, cause I picked them up from school, and I’m going like… I guess they weren’t kids—older kids, teenagers. And I said, “Well, just tell me, what is it?” She said, “You have cancer.” Excuse me? Cancer? What? Why? How did that happen? So she says, “I need to talk to you about it.” Da-da-da. You know. So that was a huge shock. I was always the one, you know, working on being healthy, eating well, working out—the whole works. It was a huge challenge.

What happened then, she gave me some choices, different oncologists. So then when I met my oncologist, I was talking to him. At this was the point, “You have endometrial cancer. But you don’t fit the profile.” “What the hell you mean, I fit the profile but I got it!?” And it was like, certain weight, certain this, certain things. He said it was very rare, but it happened. A freak of nature. So the great part about it, they caught it early. Yay!! But I did have to get a hysterectomy. I didn’t have to get a full hysterectomy. Course I went to my mom and talked to her. By getting a partial hysterectomy, it possibly could come back. I’ll never forget my mom, she said, “You have your three kids. Don’t worry about it. You don’t need it anymore. Just have them take it all!” (Laughs) That’s how she said it, “Just tell them to take it all!!” Oh my God. I think she was more heart-broken than me!

And so that’s what I did. I got a full hysterectomy. It was… Very weird. Getting surgery. I’d never been in the hospital, for much of anything, really. So that was a huge challenge. For the next five years, this or that… Even to this day, if you just get a little pain here, could it be this or that? I’m saying this to say… I do remember if my doctor asked, when I met with her in August, “Do you feel anything different?” And when I thought about it, I remembered the end of July, I was working in my yard! I was digging, in my garden. And I had a really, really sharp pain, and I’m like, “Oh goodness.” Once again, I called my mom, and she said, “Why don’t you just lay down, maybe you pulled a muscle or something.” So I’m thinking, that must have been a warning sign or something. It just happened that the next month was the month that I would normally go to get my well woman’s exam. So I’m thinking that was the start of something… I’m just so thankful that I do what I do every year, and did get my exam at that time.

So they did catch it early, very early diagnosis. And it was… In September was when I got the hysterectomy. They didn’t know how aggressive it was, so it was something I had to go through. It was like bogging my mind, because I had to make so many decisions so quickly. That was the most difficult part. It was like, “Wait what? I gotta do this now?” Yeah… I was teaching, I was starting. I had to take this time out at the very beginning of the school year. So there was just a bunch of stuff… What about your kids? Da-da-da. Those kinds of things. So, most challenging… I would think that would be it.

Yeah. And what did you learn?

Well, I learned to live, love, and laugh! (Laughs) Enjoy your life. Just keep doing the things you really enjoy doing. Keep loving your family… And I learned that, “You know what, I better get a whole lot of life insurance!” (Laughs) I did that as well. But just, keep enjoying your life. Keep making family a priority, and making yourself a priority. And keep enjoying yourself! All these other little things around you—they’re little things. And I felt that I was very, very blessed to have gotten diagnosed very early. And yeah… I am a survivor, so those who are going through it… I didn’t have to get the radiation or any of those kinds of things, so thank goodness for that! I empathize so much for those people who have gotten cancer. Even though October is breast cancer month… Any cancer is difficult. My dad died of colon cancer…

Oh, wow…

Yeah, so… Seeing what you go through is just terrible. It’s not like… Unlike anything. I don’t overlook it. Those who… Be strong. Do the best you can. Even most recently, I had a niece who did get breast cancer! We did not have breast cancer in our family for generations! No idea what happened. She is… I think she’s been through one year now, but… Yeah. So it’s really ugly, and… That is one organization I have always donated to. You know, I’m not trying to advertise anything. But for research, for any of these types of things. Cancer is terrible. People just need to get check-ups. If something don’t seem right, it’s probably not right, so go take care of it.

Yeah, definitely… Wow. What are some things that you struggle with still now?

Deciding where to go next! (Laughs) What to do next! I do struggle with that! Like oh my goodness, it’s time… I know it sounds weird, but right now, that’s pretty much… Yeah, that’s pretty much. Financially, you know, a lot of things with that, just trying to get a lot of things out of the way, to be living freer. Honestly there’s not a whole lot of things. Just trying to live life! I know I keep saying that. That is it!

That is the most important thing, and just enjoy what you do. I don’t care if it’s a cup of coffee—savor it. You know? I’m drinking my wine—taste it. Don’t rush through it. Don’t guzzle it. When you eat your food, you know… I don’t even put all the stuff on the food, cause I want to taste, like what does this chicken really taste like? It’s really savory. I just enjoy the little things in life—that’s a good saying! And that’s just what I do.

When I see my family, I’m just so elated! I’m not the one they have to pick up the phone and call, and say, “I’m coming over!” Okay yes they do, cause I might not be here, but other than that… But they have GPS on me, so they know if I’m here or not. (Laughs)

(Laughs) Oh my gosh.

Yeah, really! But just like that… I don’t really… Okay, struggle… Not a whole lot of struggle. I don’t know, is that being weird? I just really don’t! I don’t have a lot of struggles. Thank goodness. I’ve been through struggles, I’ve been through hard times, I’ve had my share of hard times. But I just get through them. I just get through them, best way I can! Bottom line.

Yeah! Awesome.

Thank goodness, right?

Yeah, just a few more questions. What’s something you’ve learned about yourself recently? Like in the last… Five years or so?

What have I learned about myself, more recently… Huh. Well, I guess… I’ve learned… I don’t know. I learned that sometimes I probably just need to slow down. I don’t have to do something all the time. There’s a moment for me to just… Come in, sit down, and even though I like doing so many different things, and feel like I need to do this, and do that… Just take a little time and… Breathe. Have that moment of solitude. Close my door, and… Just relax. And yes, my children tell me that, too. Stop. Slow down. And I do. It might not be for a long length of time, but I do it. So I make that a priority.

I even, within the last few months, I will sit down and actually watch TV! I hardly ever do that, so I’ve been trying to do that a couple times a week for about an hour. I know, I don’t do that! So I sit down and relax. So I try to do something like that. Relax more, and be into myself!

I have journals. I always write in journals. That’s always kinda peaceful. But that’s nothing new, because I’ve been doing that since high school. Yeah! I have a closet full of journals. I’ve been doing that since high school, but I do… Just relax. Just sit down! And think. And be calm. I know, I know. That’s it. Calm down.

Yeah, that’s great! I love journaling, too. It’s so therapeutic, and then you look back, and… It’s great.

That’s right. Even looking back, and reading some, I’m like, “Yeah girl, you did that! I remember that!” It is amazing… Yeah.

Yeah. All right, how do you define success?

Okay, I define success by… Loving myself, loving my family, loving the people around me. Having the things and doing the things that my environment around me… Anything that makes me feel complete at the moment. Being able to do things that I want to do, when I feel like doing it. Just success to me is just, love being myself. Being transparent. And having good people around me. That’s success with me. And I remember a statement that my dad… Remember I told you my dad was a lawyer, businessman. And one day, I said, “You know, if you didn’t have all of us, you would be rich!” And I love this phrase, because I actually use it. And he said, “Well I’m rich, because I had all of you.” So that’s pretty much. I am rich because I have my children, my grandchildren, and my little piece of paradise, right here.

Ah, I love that. That’s beautiful. Yeah, just last question. What are you looking forward to?

I am looking forward to go climb that building in New York City again, and just hang right over it! (Laughs)

Wait what!?

Oh my goodness, yes! I go to New York often, but this was a huge challenge and I really wanted to do this. It is a building—matter of fact, I have pictures somewhere on my page. Oh gosh, I can’t remember how many feet it was. But once you go up the building, you can lean on the side of the building, and you can see the entire landscape, area view of New York City! So exhilarating. It’s near Hudson Yard. It’s in that area. It was called The Edge. 1,200 feet up in the air, and once you get up in the harness. Once you’re in that harness, you lean over the building, and lean out to see an aerial view of the city. That was so exhilarating, it was so beautiful! And you know, you try it the first time, and you think, “Wow!” And I want to do that again! So I am looking forward to that. Travel is part of my insight. I want to go try that again. I did that two years ago, and I looking forward to seeing that again. I’m looking forward to having more lovely interviews! And I’m looking forward to winning Fab Over 40!! Yay!!! (Laughs)

Yay!! (Laughs)

I’m looking forward to just enjoying my life, each day at a time. So whatever way, whichever way those dominos fall, that’s where I’m gonna go. Yeah!

Yeah, awesome! Is there anything else you want to talk about that I didn’t ask?

Let’s see… You talked about careers, what I’m looking forward to, what I love… No, not really! You really was pretty intense—you ask a lot of deep questions!! You did really good, and I appreciate that. When I saw that list that you had, I was like all that is fine… It’s nothing that I probably didn’t say, probably couldn’t see… Plants, creative… And I don’t know, it’s nothing really. I think you have covered it pretty well! And I appreciate that. And I appreciate the time you allowed me to be here with you, so that I can express myself. I don’t do that very often with my audience. So hopefully you’ve enjoyed this conversation as much as I have!

Yeah! Cool, okay. I’m gonna stop recording…