Gabby’s Triumphant House Entry
I burst into tears when I saw the miracle of Gabrielle Giffords, walking, talking and recognizing fellow elected officials in the House of Representatives yesterday. Her joyous wave and infectious smile lit up what had become a coarsely divided and bitterly bicker-some group, even for 10 minutes.
She was quoted as saying, “I could not take the chance that my absence could crash our economy” so she surprised and delighted the chamber with her visit and her vote. Both in December 2009 and February 2010, she had objected to raising the debt limit, yet more recently was convinced to vote in favor as she followed the debate swirling around the circumstances of the US economy hanging so tenuously in the balance. She realized, particular that women and money are involved in this current debate insomuch as women struggle through lower wages and increased family and work balance issues, more so than men.
Additionally, should the credit rating of the United States of America drop, that translates immediately into higher costs of borrowing, which again adversely affects women and money through much higher car payments and mortgage payments to name two.
Nancy Pelosi deemed Gabby “the personification of courage”. Would that our Representatives and Congress people personify courage in continuing the tough conversations; not quitting, as we can’t afford the luxury of a negative thought, or negative words, for that matter.
We need ideas, we need strategies, and we need courageous leaders, leaders like Gabrielle Giffords!
Wealth Is Health & Jamming LIFE Into Your Years, However Short!
I am still reeling, as many of my friends are at the tragic loss of Kate Cudlipp, minister at Seekers Church in Washington, DC, who died peacefully yesterday following a terrible bicycle accident last weekend. She is survived by Carole Grunberg, her loving partner of twenty-nine years whom she married last year.
I am grateful that Kate didn’t die with much music still in her, ala Wayne Dyer, “Don’t die with your music still inside you. Listen to your intuitive inner voice and find what passion stirs your soul” as Kate had written it, sung it, and performed it over and over and over again, to society’s most vulnerable folks, particularly children. She served as Kirkridge Retreat Center’s Board Chair with aplomb as well as Seeker’s Church in a host of leadership positions.
I’ll miss her gorgeous smile as well as that most discerning look….a wonderful alchemy of balance, fun and grace. May she rest in peace and may the rest of us remember her grace, and her influence allowing both to empower us to serve ourselves and others with Kate-like enthusiasm and integrity.
What is wealth? Wealth is health, for one. Wealth is integrity, for another. Kate & Carole’s wedding vows, as rich in love as they are romantic, also connote wealth.
May we not postpone happiness, women.
Age 100, Blind And Still Flashin’ (Smiles, That Is!)
Well, just in the case anyone was thinking, “it’s too late for me to make a difference. My life isn’t meaningful anymore,” take a page out of Felma Schrimshire’s book; IT’S NEVER TOO LATE!
Today, Felma beat out nine other finalists from a field of 76 women, all competing for the coveted Ms. Alabama Nursing Home beauty queen title! How’d she do it, you ask? A World War II veteran, she saluted all three sections of the audience, and chatted up the judges to bring home the crown! She was crowned by the gorgeous Miss Alabama, Courtney Porter, who I believe was secretly hoping she’ll look that good when she reaches age 100.
Ms. Schrimshire is now legally blind, yet she still greets her fellow nursing home residents each day with a smile. I’m sorry she can’t see the return smiles, as she so richly deserves, yet she doesn’t let that stop her from being the socialite she is. Stay tuned as I will endeavor to book Ms. Schrimshire on my Blog Talk Radio show to interview her for her words of wisdom for today’s woman. I’m eager to hear how she managed to invest her money so that she’d have sufficient Income in Retirement, all the way to age 100. She’s a great example of Women and Money being perfect together, isn’t she?
Felma taught Sunday School for 78 years, and served in a Surgeon’s office for a year during World War II. My suspicion is that her answer to the question, What is Wealth? is to invest for the long term, maintain your health, and always wear a smile!
Congratulations Felma Schrimshire, Ms. Alabama Nursing Home Beauty Queen!
Betty Ford’s Tremendous Wealth
Yesterday’s news of the death of Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren Ford (aka Betty Ford) at age 93 was sad for millions of American women and men for a myriad of reasons. Her plain speaking, her commitment to women’s rights and her uncanny ability to answer the question “what is wealth” in simple, everyday terms are part of the great legacy she leaves behind. I am a huge proponent of defining wealth differently than most financial advisers in that wealth to me expands beyond the greenbacks in our purses and the investments in our portfolio.
What Is Wealth?
The Free Dictionary defines wealth as “a profusion, a great amount, all goods and resources having value in terms of exchange or use…fullness, cornucopia.” Similarly Merriam-Webster’s defines wealth as “abundant supply,” listing the synonyms “substance, wherewithal, and worth.”
I know of few American women who have shared their wealth of experience, bravery and gutsiness, more vividly and powerfully than former First Lady, Betty Ford. Her 1942 first marriage to William Warren finally ended in a divorce in 1947, due to “excessive, repeated cruelty”. What most people may not know is that Mr. Warren was an alcoholic and slipped into a coma just after Betty had filed for divorce, yet she unswervingly cared for him another 2 whole years!
I especially honor Betty Ford for thinking independently from her husband, Gerald Ford, taking opposite stands on matters that pertained particularly to women, most notably, her support of reproductive choice, stating, “having babies is a blessing, not a duty.”
While she angered some conservatives who labeled her “No Lady”, Betty nonetheless commanded a 75% approval rating, and said, “I would give my life to have Jerry have my poll numbers” in his unsuccessful 1976 Presidential election. Since he had lost his voice campaigning, Betty gave his concession speech! (We would later marvel at her strength and dignity she showed the world by traveling across the United States in the week-long funeral proceedings for President Ford, as a frail and aged woman.)
The image of her marching aside Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem for Equal Rights in 1978 is ensconced in most of our minds. She joked with her Secret Service Agents that her car should also bear a flag, just like the President’s so they gave her a flag imprinted with “Don’t Tread on Me” with the letters ERA.
In 1974 she also allowed photographers into the hospital where she was recovering from a radical mastectomy, to educate women worldwide that it was not only ok to speak openly about having breast cancer in that day, but imperative to get regular breast exams/mammography for early detection. She spoke openly about her own mastectomy which gave countless women hope that they, too, could survive cancer.
Her candor about her children while living in the White House as First Lady was refreshing, insomuch as she spoke about real life challenges that “the rest of us” were struggling with. Her CB radio handle fittingly was First Mama.
She aligned herself with the common folk, not because she had to, yet because she wanted to; she truly cared. She understood the accompanying power of situations in which powerful and famous and respected people can empower and positively influence those with less power. She was all about lending a hand up.
Never dreaming that her newly wed husband–who arrived late to their wedding with muddy shoes from having been out campaigning–would win his seat in Congress, she also declared that the day he was sworn in as President of the United States of America was the saddest day of her life. She handled all the pressures of the media and the office with public aplomb, speaking out for women’s rights especially. Yet she paid her own price for that oft-lonely season by becoming addicted to alcohol and pain-killers. And when she underwent addiction treatment, she got her life back, and was determined to provide a facility where others could do the same. Her Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, CA does just that; it gives people their lives back, and does so at a modest cost, so that the “average” person (not just the plethora of movie stars and wealth) can afford the experience.
An exquisite dancer who did the Bump along the White House halls, I trust Betty is Dancing With The Stars tonight, and reunited with her beloved husband of 58 years, former President Gerald Ford, who also died at age 93.
To his credit, Gerry Ford never again took Betty for granted after her nervous breakdown in 1965. She described it as “I was giving too much of myself and not taking any time out for Betty…” Let that be a lesson for all of us, as Betty’s originality and open and honest sharing of her life has been.
Charity begins at home, and I urge each of us to take time for ourselves because ultimately that is our wealth. We then can choose to share our wealth with others, yet only if we have an abundance of it for ourselves to start with.
If anything, let Mrs. Ford’s passing call us all into realizing and actualizing the full women that we are, and are meant to be! Honor her today by asking “What Is Wealth” for you, and know that you have a right to however you define that answer. We Can Do It Women!
Rest in Peace our wealthy, good and faithful ‘servant’ Betty.
Brain Power
Wealth is directing our brain to utilize both it’s right and left hemispheres. The melding of our more feeling, pictorial right brain hemisphere with our more logical, verbal left brain hemisphere (which would rather be right than happy) is ultimately my goal for a more balanced life.
I was privileged to hear Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor speak tonight at The New York Society for Ethical Culture in what was billed as Transformational Stories. It was that and SO much more, as Dr. Jill was joined by acclaimed singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer. Together these talented and accomplished women wove song and speech into an experience of “uncommon depth”.
From Dr. Jill’s detailed depiction of her watching her brain functions shut down one by one as she suffered a massive stroke, to Carrie’s singing her own songs that complemented those emotion and insights–songs that Dr. Jill was buoyed by during her arduous recovery–I was simultaneously mesmerized and filled with hope.
Dr. Jill’s story is all the more poignant since she is a brain scientist–a neuroanatomist to be exact–originally drawn into research on the brain to understand mental illness more vividly, since her own brother was diagnosed schizophrenic. Yet, while she had studied tens of thousands of brains at Harvard, she still couldn’t believe SHE was having a stroke when it happened to her. Like most of us, she never thought it could happen to her. She didn’t have any of the ‘normal’ conditions one might have just prior to a stroke, plus she was busy; she didn’t have “time” to have a stroke!
Yet she did suffer a massive stroke and spent the next 8 years recovering. She now knows on a cellular & psychological level that “nirvana is never more than a mere thought away. By stepping to the right of our left brains, we can all uncover the feelings of well-being and peace that are so often sidelined by our own brain chatter.”
Dr. Jill’s book, ‘My Stroke of Insight’ offers hope and recovery steps for those with brain injuries as well as a deeply emotional testimony for how we can all find peace within, at any time and at any place.
With hope-filled stories like Dr. Jill’s, I’m confident that we women can reach inside and muster the courage to invite our left brains to complement our right brains and become WISE–Watchful, Inquisitive, Strategic & Empowered–about our own financial wealth.
As Dr. Jill & I both know, through our respective training and experiences, time and health are our true assets. And I’m here to help us understand our finances and investments so that we can afford more choices as we age.
If you would like a copy of her book, you can pick up your own copy by clicking the link to the left -
