Quickly finding this song online, I got up from my desk and started to dance.

Two hours later and I’m still dancing.

Life is too short NOT to dance.

That’s all I really have to say…

Because the media will tell you all about Donna Summer and what she meant to our generation.

I’m just here to tell you to get up off your tuchas and start dancing….in the office…in the street…at home.

Life is too short NOT to dance.

Donna Summer 1977

Free To Be You and Me

I’ve been thinking about a show that my first born son, Jason, was in many years ago. It was called Free To Be You and Me. There was a song in the show that I have always loved.

The song reminds me of the generation that I was raising my children in.  The message was, “Boys and girls can achieve anything in life. There should be no stereotypes or intolerance. Our children should grow up and just BE!”

I loved the message and tried very hard to relate that to my children and the students that I taught.

For 2012 Mother’s Day, my wish is….Let’s work together to keep this important message going for future generations. Let’s try very hard to accept and respect each other’s differences and not put up walls between us.

Let’s encourage our children and grandchildren to be individuals. Let’s make sure they understand that it is ok to draw outside the lines, stand up for what they believe in and love who they want to love.

And then hopefully…The world will become a nicer place to BE.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Love,

Debi Drecksler

*This column was written in response to the passing of Amendment One in North Carolina

Upon arriving at the St. Augustine Beach Hampton Inn, we were greeted like VIP guests.  The staff told us that we were getting a room with an ocean view which put a huge smile on my face. Though I’ve lived in the mountains of North Carolina for 25 years, I was raised in Florida and miss the beaches and tropical climate.

The beautiful view from my window

The room was gorgeous, and sparkling clean. This is one of the main reasons, my husband and I always stay at Hampton Inns. We have owned and operated a janitorial service for 21 years and look at hotel rooms through cleaning professional’s eyes. They are the only chain we know of that change the entire bedding even the quilt after each guest’s visit. Every area of the hotel was clean and well maintained.

We were greeted warmly by every staff member we walked by from housekeeping  to maintenance. The breakfast attendant went out of her way to be helpful to every guest and make sure that every person enjoyed their breakfast.

I had the pleasure of interviewing several members of the hotel management staff. Each of them expressed how much they enjoy working for the St. Augustine Beach Hampton Inn. They all love their jobs and look forward each day to coming to work. I was impressed by how well they worked as a team, each one of them willing to chip in and help out wherever necessary. As I saw them greet each guest, I realized that every person was made to feel like a VIP. I watched as all the guests left the front desk with smiles on their faces.

My visit reminded me of the fabulous time I had when I stayed at a Hampton Inn in Charleston, South Carolina and discovered Henry, the singing bellhop.

Front desk manager, Nicole S. Bonjour

(on left) General Manager, Trish Wible (on right) Assistant General Manager, Kristin Klutz

The three friendly staff members I interviewed in St Augustine were all transplants.  Kristin came to St Augustine Beach, Florida from a small town just a few miles from where I live in North Carolina.  Trish relocated from Alaska and Nicole moved from Massachusetts. They all agreed that the move had brought a lot of good things to their lives.

One of the best, of course, was meeting each other and getting to work together at the St. Augustine Beach Hampton Inn.

Enjoying the beach in St. Augustine, Florida

Locally made ones are usually the worst because many of them are so poorly made. To save money, many businesses will use their own family members to sell their products and/or services. Not a great idea when the person looks scared to death or can’t enunciate their words or even worse, looks like their reading from a teleprompter. As much as I love children, I don’t care for the ones that use their children and grandchildren to sell their products. The cuteness appeal may be there, but really, no-one is understanding a word these little ones are saying . Isn’t the purpose to leave the viewer with a thought or two about what is being advertised rather than thinking about a kid’s missing two front teeth?

Here are a few of my most disliked nationally aired commercials.

Commercials for skin products designed to fight aging which includes just about every company out there. Please don’t show a 30 something face and try to convince women over 50 that if we use your products, we will look like the model…Not happening!! Congratulations to M.A.C. for using a 91 year old model in one of their latest ad campaigns. Though I did not see it on television, I still want to acknowledge them for stepping outside the obsession with youth!

Commercials for weight loss meal plans.  You need a magnifying glass to read the additional products you will have to purchase that are not included in these highly expensive meals. Read fast, because they are in a BIG hurry to share this information with you! Also, understand that you will most likely not achieve the same results as those gorgeous people on television.( Another bit of information that runs by on the bottom of your screen, faster than a speeding bullet.)

Let us help you pay off your debt companies. Most of these are Scam…Scam…Scam. They prey on the people in the worst financial situations and cost them more money down the road. I’m surprised more of these companies haven’t been investigated and shut down.

Teeth whitening products…Please give consumers more credit than THAT! You are using models whose before teeth are almost perfect. Do they honestly think we don’t notice that? My most disliked is the one where the girl shows her passport to two hunky airport employees (after whitening her teeth) and they look at her picture and just can’t believe it is the same girl. Fake…Fake…Fake.

Pharmaceutical companies touting their drugs are my biggest pet peeve. Again, the writing on the bottom of the screen is too small for even the normal sighted person to see. When the side effects are verbally listed, the  speaker goes faster than an auctioneer! The background scenes going on aren’t believable. No-one acts like that in real life!

The list could go on and on but I think you got the message that advertisers need to come up with some better commercials. If they don’t, they’ll be wasting millions of dollars, which we all know… the consumer ends up paying for in the long run!

Now that’s another column!

I’m sure most people who read my columns have figured out by now that I write and perform comedy. The secret to being a good comic is having the ability to laugh at yourself. Sometimes I crack myself up!

Getting back to freckles…Here are some of my favorite lines that I have received since hitting the second stage of  life.

From a male teller who asked to see my license….” Why are you showing me your Mother’s license?”  He admitted to having a thing for girls with freckles and said they made me look younger than the age listed.

From a female cashier at  a local clothing store when I asked for my senior citizen discount. “I need to see your driver’s license!” she demanded. Thinking she was joking, I replied, “What are we running here…a nightclub?” Giving me her meanest look, she hissed, ” I have to make sure you are OLD enough for this discount!” Laughing hysterically I answered, “Listen Lady…there is not a woman over 40 who is going to pretend to be older than she is  …not even for your 15% discount!” I showed my license (she wasn’t budging) and on the way out, an elderly man stopped me and said, “It’s those freckles.”

I’m saving the best for last.

I was an MC for a show (in a bar) a while back and while performing a little comedy, I happened to mention my age. A guy screams out, “Honey,  with those freckles, you don’t look a day over 43!”

I would have taken this as quite a compliment if he hadn’t just finished his 5th beer!

Little Debi

If I take a trip down memory lane (thanks again Mother for that wonderful expression), I remember my husband taking the filling out of seven cookies and building what our 4 children believed to be the world’s largest oreo. Just the other day, my hip hop artist daughter, Heidi D, brought up that childhood memory. She was laughing hysterically on the phone just thinking about the memory of her Father stuffing the biggest cookie on this planet in his mouth.

So this brings me to the REAL reason I am writing about Oreo cookies. Life is filled with moments like this that make us happy just thinking about them.  I smile every time I eat an Oreo. And yes, I still take my cookie apart and peel off the creamy inside and pop in my mouth. I like the memories it evokes.

And most importantly, it reminds me that life holds little bits of sweetness  that make it all worthwhile.

Oreo's 100th Birthday

Linda Michelle

Between the age of 6 and 8, our class was given a survey; not having to do with Race, or ethnicity, but a survey of class status.  As I can remember from over 40 years ago, the questions asked were to find if we considered our family as ‘poor, middle-class, or rich’.  I surveyed my little short-lived life, and I found that I wanted for nothing.  The Atlanta Public Schools had, just recently, started a program to provide breakfast for students of lower income families, but I didn’t need it.  Though my Mother worked two jobs, the only time I mentioned being hungry was when I just didn’t want what she served for that particular meal.  I had toys, I had friends, and though my parents were separated, I had extended family that exposed me to many places and things.  We had a car.  I remember a few Christmases being taken to this large warehouse, to walk with a soldier down one of the many rows of toys made just for girls.  In my mind, it wasn’t because I was poor, I thought it was because I was privileged, and whoever was Santa, liked little ole me.  In that respect, I was proud to list on that survey that we were RICH.  Imagine that!

Had the CNN survey been given to me, I would probably choose the ‘blonde hair, blue-eyed’ doll, as well.  It wouldn’t be so because I had an adult mind to favor one over the other based on race; it would simply be because that was what I was exposed to more than a doll that looked like me.  Knowing myself as I do, more than likely I would ask for one of each, so that each one would have a friend.
I don’t recall the true purpose, or the weigh-in results of the survey; but, it’s not ‘shame on me’, nor any child to feel that way; it’s ‘shame on you’, the maker of dolls, for not including a doll for every race.  Racism is not innate, it’s taught; even the dark vs light skin among our own.

For the past 18 years, Linda has worked as a Travel Agent. She was born and raised in Atlanta, where she currently resides. Linda is the youngest of six children. She is single, with no children. Linda is a proud supporter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and faces her own challenges battling MS. In her free time, she enjoys dabbling in Digital Graphics.

* This was first posted as a comment to an essay on my site written by Cody Williams.

I’ve seen a lot of talent in the years I’ve been on this planet but not since watching Shirley Temple have I ever been so captivated with a child performer. Sophia Grace is an eight year old with a cuteness that far exceeds her physical appearance. She has an exuberance for life that I would like to bottle up and sell. EVERYTHING is exciting to her from the opportunity to perform on stage to the joy of meeting her musical idols to the absolute deliciousness of getting to travel to a new country. She epitomizes everything I love about children. She says what she feels without any cue cards or parents standing in the wings giving her looks or any of the other restrictions one might feel when appearing in front of a camera.  She is the REAL deal and America is eating her up faster than chocolate ice-cream with sprinkles on top!

I can’t get enough of Sophia Grace and her little cousin, Rosie. I am proud to confess that I am a groupie! My dream is to meet them one day and watch them perform in person. I’ll be the fan dancing in the aisles with tears of happiness streaming down her freckled face!

I start every day with one of their adorable performances (thank-you YouTube) and it keeps me smiling all day.

Watch Sophia Grace and Rosie and then drop me a line or two and tell me how your day is going!

Sophie Grace and Rosie

* Debi Drecksler is the proud Mother of hip-hop artist, Heidi D.

Today I’ve been thinking about one of my best friend’s daughter’s weddings which took place last night in South Florida. Sadly, I couldn’t attend. Thanks to the internet the pictures were posted before the ink dried on the Ketubah …I looked at the faces of this family that I love and I grew teary eyed. They are all so beautiful and happy and thank G-d part of something that will go on for generations!

I’ve known my friend since we were toddlers.  We grew up on the same block almost 60 years ago. I have 4 children. My friend has 11. Our children grew up together until my family packed up and moved to North Carolina 25 years ago.  The daughter that was married last night shares my name. One daughter was born on my birthday. The family has grown so rapidly,  (LOTS of grandchildren and more to come) I joke in my comedy routine that if continues at this pace… AT&T has promised them their own phone book.

All kidding aside…My friend and her family have played a very special role in my life! You can’t put a price on friendship but if I had to…I would say our friendship is worth a billion dollars!

Friends Forever

Hours later, a Nun discovered me turning purple and not breathing. My lungs had collapsed from the trauma of my birth. Thanks to her being in the right place at the right time, I was revived. I am grateful that she brought me back to life.

As a child, I had many out of body experiences. They were always the same. At night, after I was asleep, I was lifted out of my bed and  placed on something that felt like a soft, plush blanket. The angels who took me were dressed in flowing robes. We floated in the sky above the clouds. I remember the cool night air. I remember how beautiful and peaceful it was. The angels never spoke to me but I can still see their smiles.

The out of body experiences stopped when I lost the innocence of childhood. I was sexually abused by a teenage counselor on a camp bus. I was about nine years old. I never told anyone about the abuse until I grew up.

Years passed and all this was pushed to the back of my mind. Then as a young adult, I started having dreams, “seeing” things before they happened and “knowing” things I couldn’t possibly know. There were too many things to call them coincidences.  I asked my Mother to once again tell me all the details of my birth. I realized that for a very short time (maybe just seconds) I had actually died. It was then that I started accepting that I had psychic abilities. I had a strong feeling there had to be a connection with my birth.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about my childhood out of body experiences and my ability to dream things and see things that others cannot see.

Most importantly, I am starting to understand and really appreciate my gift.