August 2020
Decades ago, I used to drive to Elk Grove, just south of Sacramento, during my pregnancy with Dear Daughter. Nausea was my constant companion, all during those 40 weeks, as was my toddler son during jaunts here and there. Dear Husband’s dearly departed aunt, My Zia, lived at that time in a farmhouse, with her husband, in the open fields of Elk Grove. She’d invite me and Toddler Son to stay at “her ranch” while Dear Husband was on TDY (Tour of Duty) at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
I drove his pickup truck and our little Dear Son from our first home in Roseville, in Placer County, to that sprawling spread, 30 acres of flat-as-a-pancake pasture land. The 00-Buckshot Ranch did, indeed, serve to soothe me. The sheep, cattle, and rows of tomato plants and corn were great fun for Mom and Son.
There were also those times when My Zia drove me, and Toddler in Tow, in her old farm truck, a huge Chevy, way out into the hinterlands of the as-yet undeveloped south Sacramento County. And I would proceed to get truck-sick.
Her firm and immediate advice to me was: KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE HORIZON.
To this day, I follow those words of wisdom. Zia gave me so many of them, and I was in need of every single one. There are often times when a worried mind and a frightened soul do not know what to think, or where to go — to move forward in life. All the usual places have been tried, and they are tried-out, tired, worn, and wrung-out.
Try the unusual place!
About two months ago, I packed all of my perfumes, in advance of moving to Larkhaven. So, of course, I needed to buy a new perfume!
I decided to try a perfume that heretofore had been too headache-inducing to me, the kind of loud flower-bomb that has been peddled to girls for several decades now. I’d recently received a sample of the NEW version of Miss Dior EdT of 2019, and I immediately fell in love with this new fragrance of a new era!
Without even researching the formulation, I purchased this brand-new perfume at the online site and waited with anticipation for the UPS man to greet me at my door with the gift of Dior.
For those who wish to know, Miss Dior EdT 2019 is a chypre floral fragrance with top notes of citrus: blood orange and mandarins. I do love les agrumes! The middle notes are roses and lily-of-the-valley. The base note is patchouli, an ages-old strong and heavy scent that creates the perfect basis for any lovely perfume!
After Miss Dior arrived chez moi, I spritzed some of her on, and continued with my writing work. Dear Husband came into the room and said:
“You smell nice.”
It is the only endorsement a woman ever needs, for the man in her life to do more than take notice that she is in the same room with him. “I’ve grown accustomed to her scent . . .”
In honor of My Zia, I can proudly proclaim:
I am keeping my eyes on the horizon. And wishing upon a star, or two, or three, or four! Maybe I’ll even catch a falling star.
Miss Dior and I are going places!