Master Status

According to my Sociology textbook, “Most of us occupy a number of positions in our lives (mother, wife, daughter, etc.).  Since we all occupy more than one status in life, we will gravitate toward one that we call a master status.” When I read that, it got me to thinking, “What is my master status?”

Certainly one of my first master statuses was ‘daughter’.  I was the baby in my family and the only girl in the Ford family.  I wasn’t the first daughter, but my sister didn’t survive at birth in 1949. 

I was also a ‘grandchild’ – the fourth out of five.  I was also a ‘granddaughter’ – the second one of three.  

I also am ‘sister’, ‘cousin’ and ‘niece’ within my family.  I still strongly identify with ‘daughter’ even though I haven’t technically been anyone’s daughter for 7 years.

Outside my home, I soon became ‘friend’ and ‘student’.  I was ‘student’ for the same amount of time as everyone else – 13 years.  

CHS Graduation 1977 - nice glasses

I gave up my 'student' status for a long time – 33 years, and then I decided to “occupy” that status for a while again. I’ve been enjoying it rather a lot since I am pretty good at it. 

Another outside-the-home status is ‘employee’ or ‘administrative assistant’.  These last two statuses have put food on the table and a roof over our heads, but most of my jobs have just been a paycheck.  If I am brutally honest, I’d rather be at home.

When I met Eric back in 1988, I became ‘girlfriend’ and then a year and a half later ‘wife’.  

‘Wife’ has to be one of my favorite statuses and it was followed closely by ‘mother’.  ‘Mother’ is the most demanding of my statuses but probably the most rewarding.  As my sons have grown to be men, ‘mother’ is not as important in THEIR lives even though it still means so much to me. In my mind, they will always be my "babies".

So what IS my master status?  I don’t think I have just one.  ‘Wife’ and ‘mother’ seem to fit the best at the moment although ‘student’ and ‘employee’ take up a great deal of my time these days.

SOURCE:  Carl, John D., 2011. Think Sociology 2011. Prentice Hall: Saddle River, NJ.

Barbie

According to the lid on my Trop*A*Rocka diet Snapple, "Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts."  http://realfacts.snapple.com/whybarbiehatesapril15/

I was a huge Barbie fan growing up.  I think I owned most of them at one time or another.  A few years back I was in a collecting mood and started buying some vintage Barbie dolls off of eBay that I had not owned as a child. I now have a collection of Barbies in my closet.

I remember one of my first Barbies looking like this one.

This is a 1960's era Barbie.  She had short dark hair, blue eye shadow and a thick ridge of plastic eyelashes that also looked like eyeliner.  I believe she had the non-bending legs. Ken at the time had the fuzzy, velvet-like hair.

I had a Francie doll.

I also have Live Action Barbie (yes, I still have the one I got for Christmas @ 1971).  She came with a stage that she "danced" on.  You fastened her onto the stage and flipped a switch and she wiggled and danced.  She came with a 45 rpm record that was her theme song.  She sang, "I'm happy I'm Barbie!"  It drove my family crazy because I played it so many times!

I had a Casey doll - although I can't remember now whether I had the auburn-haired one or the blonde one.

I had a P.J. doll, but I don't remember whether or not she was the talking one.

I had a Ken doll with the hard plastic hair. 

I had several other Barbies - too many to remember.  I even had a Joe Namath doll.  I remember the Namath doll had better clothes than the Barbie dolls! He had a leather coat with a fur collar.  The one I had kept losing his head!  He must've been hit too many times on the football field!

I now have a Twiggy doll, a Skipper doll and several more modern versions of Barbie. Some of the more modern ones are still in the boxes. I have never forgotten that plastic new doll smell.  It brings back Christmas morning to me so vividly.

Maybe it's true that I will never grow up. I hope I have granddaughters some day so that I can pass the dolls along to someone who will love them as much as I did. 



SOURCES:  http://realfacts.snapple.com/whybarbiehatesapril15/
http://www.infinitehollywood.com/2010/08/bret-michaels-diet-snapple-trop-rocka.html
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Factory-Brunette-Silky-Hair-American-Girl-Torso-1960s-Doll-Hospital-Stock-/150915720447?_trksid=p4340.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26meid%3D2560311338948940875%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D5%26sd%3D251128854442%26
 http://www.fashion-doll-guide.com/Vintage-Francie-Dolls.html
http://www.fashion-stylist.net/blog/2009/01/01/year-of-the-barbie-barbies-50th-birthday-in-2009/
http://www.sodahead.com/fun/ever-have-a-favorite-toy-as-kid/question-2680965/?link=ibaf&q=&imgurl=http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_570xN.252447654.jpg
http://www.fashion-doll-guide.com/PJ-Dolls.html
http://www.etsy.com/listing/74754148/vintage-60s-talking-barbie-ken-doll
http://historical.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1083&lotIdNo=5741
http://cerebralboinkfest.blogspot.com/2011/12/i-always-hated-what-i-looked-like.html

Health and Wellness

I have had a hectic couple of weeks.  We had the move at work going on last week and all the build-up to that and then all the settling-in after the fact. 

The boys both caught colds.  It was the usual September-back-to-school-someone-gets-sick-and-everyone-gets-sick thing.  Matt was out of work on Monday because he felt so bad.

This week Eric has been sick.  He had inner ear troubles that necessitated my driving to Binghamton from Rochester (a 3 hour drive), picking him up and then driving him back home again (3 more hours) to get to a Doctor’s appointment.  Six hours of non-stop driving was stressful and exhausting for me.  I am not as fond of driving as I used to be.  I was always more of a “cruising” type of driver – not so much a long-distance driver.  I would not make a good trucker.

Then there was the worry over Eric and what is going on with his ear.  He left his big rig at a truck stop in Binghamton, and he’s been home since Monday afternoon.  The Doctor diagnosed Labyrinthitis.  According to ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, “Labyrinthitis is an ear disorder that involves irritation and swelling (inflammation) of the inner ear.”  So until the dizziness goes away, he’s home.  We are hoping and praying that it is indeed something viral and it goes away soon.

On the way to Binghamton, just outside Syracuse, I got behind a Sargento Cheese truck.  I love swiss cheese!  I took a quick photo when traffic slowed to a crawl near one of the construction areas.  There was a LOT of construction on Route 81.  I would make good progress, and then all of a sudden traffic stopped and crawled along.

On our way back from Binghamton, we saw these two trolley-type cars on a flat-bed truck at one of the rest areas.  Matt says they are light rail cars either going to/from Boston.  They were neat.

We also saw the beginnings of the fall colors in the Southern tier.  This shot was near Avoca, New York.

Here’s praying for health and wellness at our house (and at yours).  Get well soon, honey.

SOURCES:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002049/