Last week was a whirlwind of social engagements and a throwback to my twenties.
During and around the COVID-19 pandemic, I purchased three businesses from women in their 70s who were ready to retire. Two were flag companies, which I merged into FlagandBanner.com, and the third was OurCornerMarket.com, a website specializing in plaques and memorials. At the time, I was in my late 60s and thought, “I will never retire” …
Not sure if that title will make men more or less eager to read this blog. Menfolk, consider yourself warned.
Every now and again, I get asked to tell my story in front of an audience. When I get these kinds of requests, the first question is always, “Which story of mine do you want to hear?”
Because so often our names fit our personality, I have often wondered if we pick our baby’s names or if, somehow, from the other side of the universe, our naming is sublimely picked by who-knows-who (or what).
This past week, I have laughed myself 10 years younger. It started during my Miami work week, when my daughter and granddaughter visited me at the beach for Spring Break. We did the usual things; dined on stone crabs, cruised South Beach, took an everglades tour, and went to Mai Kai, a tourist show of hula dancing ladies and fire throwing gents, all in grass skirts.
I consider myself lucky that I no longer have to travel on holiday weekends. When my kids were young, vacations had to be planned around their school breaks, which always coincided with a holiday. But since then, I’ve avoided those crowded travel times. This is twofold; I’m graciously giving space to families with school time constraints and selfishly circumventing my own stress level brought on from overcrowded airports and delayed flights.
Sometimes I feel like I am shouting (my metaphor for writing) into the wind. Therefore, when I get a reply of any kind on my blog, I like it. It is nice to know people are reading my weekly posts, even if the knowing is sometimes coming from a not-so-nice comment or an unsubscribe.
Though I did not vote for her, I am trying to like Arkansas’s new Governor, Ms. Sara Huckabee Sanders, but sometimes it is hard to understand her decisions. Stay with me as I explain myself.
It is hard to be a funny person in today’s world, where everyone takes themselves so seriously.
This week, I realized how lucky I am to have an old-school family doctor, whose specialty is helping people.
Our life has changed since adding our new puppy, Coco, to the family. For instance, Grady and I are subjugated to her bodily functions and puppy antics, and we can no longer walk freely around the house; it is a maze of toys and barriers. There are fences and gates everywhere in my home and yard. Coco is not allowed upstairs because, just like any unsupervised baby, she gets into trouble, and she’s not allowed out of the yard for the same reason.
On the afternoon of March 31, 2023, I sat at my desk while sirens blared a warning that a tornado had been spotted. For their safety, my employees were sent to the first floor to hunker down in the center hall. Watching out my second-story window, I scouted for possible approaching tornadoes.
Salespeople are a lot of help. I know they are often stereotyped as a nuisance, as robocalls are (which aren’t real people), but a good salesperson is more like a secretary to their client. And, over the next ten years, both salespersons and secretaries alike could become an endangered species as they are replaced by chat bots, electronic calendars, and online tutorials.
Prior to emails and the internet changing our lives, English teachers worried that writing was going to become a lost artform. Ma Bell had turned all of us into voice communicators, making lawyers the only letter writers left. In this school of thought, typing classes were dropped from many high school curriculums. But alas, the power of the pen is back, big time, along with keyboarding. It’s time to dust off the old grammar books and learn some new tricks on how to write a good email.
In the words of Etta James, “At Laaast…” we have started construction on the elevator addition for the Dreamland Ballroom, atop the Taborian Hall aka the third floor of the FlagandBanner.com building.
The end of last week presented two events that were as opposite…
Every now and then, even a blind squirrel finds a nut, or…


