Clinton Township Newsletter

C L I N TO N TOW N S H I P N ews l e t t e r ® "The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don't know what you're doing, someone else does." – Immanuel Kant F e b r u a r y 2013 J u l i e F ly n n , E d i t o r "On Turning 85" by EDITOR'S COLUMN Ruth Keesing To begin with, I am amazed and thrilled to be writing a column about turning 85 years old. My parents both died in their early 50's so, genetically speaking, my chances of becoming a ripe old ager have not been promising. Maybe I inherited better genes from my long-living grandparents. Each new birthday is a joyous event. However, there are pos- itive and negative aspects of becoming 85. I can no longer stand on one foot. I grit my teeth and will it to happen, but I am the only one in yoga class whose both feet must be planted on terra firma or I topple over with embarrassing frequency. I have lost bone mass. I have lost 20/20 vision. I have lost some shortterm memory and, at times, midway in a sentence I need GPS to determine where I was headed in the first place. And, often, the word I need to express a thought is as illusive as a mouse in the attic. I cannot jump rope anymore. I cannot jump at all. My skin elasticity, in spite of the best efforts of my dermatologist, is nil. I have 20 year old rubber bands whose snap back response triumphs over my upper arms'. I've lost muscle tone. I've lost the ability to sleep 6 hours at a stretch. I've lost my extra house key. My feet hurt, my back aches and my gums recede. Buying a bathing suit is worse than having root canal. But there are plus's at this time of life, to be appreciated and celebrated. I still have a sense of humor and can laugh heartily at my own failings. With less than perfect vision I am unable to assess the damage done to my skin from too much teenage sun. I most certainly have less stress in my life. I am in many ways stronger, having survived cancer, osteoporosis, various surgeries and two husbands. I have many wonderful friends. I receive senior discounts. I am not carded at bars. My resting heart rate is acceptable and the polyps in my colon are benign. I have Experience and Experiences. Although I dare not drive at night, I can still coax Harold, my trusty Honda, to transport me to daytime activities. I no longer consider dieting an option. I regularly pig-out on frozen coffee yogurt with Hershey's syrup and seldom find it necessary to reprimand myself. It's not how I look anymore, but how I feel and function. I do not like being referred to as "elderly", because I'm absolutely not. I'll know when I get there. I look back at my life as from a distance, like peering at it through the small end of a pair of binoculars. NOW is better. I'm shooting for 86– and I will never die young! F e b r u a r y Nothing like waiting until the last minute... this column was written in my head at 4:00 am this morning–on the day we go to print. It came to me after figuring out my kids' sports schedules, thinking about my clients' deadlines* and just before figuring out what to make tonight for dinner. And oh, yeah, we need to start looking at colleges. But wait, which SAT Prep should we enroll our daughter in first? And did I remember to give Ruth a copy of this issue to proof before we go to print? Welcome to my world – this is why I'm aging in dog-years. Anyway, here at the Clinton Township Newsletter, the irony isn't lost on us that while we have seen the end of the printed version of the behemoth Newsweek Magazine, our little publication perseveres. It feels kind of like we're rowing our little life-raft as quickly as we can while watching the Titanic sink. Not only (to continue the metaphor) are we staying afloat, but I think we are getting (to quote Kanye – as I often do) "better, faster, stronger." Okay, so maybe he wasn't really talking about the publishing business. But still... It was last February that we decided, with a lot of trepidation, to add some full color pages to our Newsletter. We felt it would make the issues look much better, but knew it would be more costly. A gamble, to say the least. I threw out the idea to about a dozen or so advertisers to see if it would float and, God Bless Cindy Knowles (of Furrylicious), who almost immediately said the two phrases that are music to our ears: "Count me in!" and "My check's in the mail!" As a thank you, I'm asking ALL of our readers to stop into Furrylicious this month and buy something. (Since there are now about 14,000 of you, you might want to set up a schedule.) We'd also like to thank Sherry Havens who has been advertising with us since, well, forever. Happy Valentines Day Sherry and again, thank you so much. Sherry was the first realtor to tell us that she uses our publication as a marketing tool to help sell her properties. Forgive me, but the only response I can think of is one from my teen years–that is so totally awesome. We'd like to thank all of the rest of our advertisers, whether you've been with us forever or just started this month, or anything in-between. We so appreciate all of you. If you do well, we (all) do well. You are keeping us in business. Readers – please shop our advertisers' stores and use their services. They are here to serve you. We're also sending a Valentine to the Municipal Office, the Board of Ed and the many, many non-profits, organizations, churches, clubs and citizens that use our publication to get their messages out to the public. You make our job worth doing and we hope we are helping you. A Valentine goes to the great people at UPS/Clinton who print this publication. If you stop in and notice a grey hair or two on these kids'** heads, please know that we gave it to them. Me: "I want this black to match that black--see how this is a red-black and that's more of a blue-black? And I'd prefer a glossy-black to this matte-black please." They listen to my requests with the utter professionalism of the printers I used to use in the city during my big-budget-clients days. (Remember big budgets? Sigh). And we'd like to send a "Welcome" to our 4,000 or so newest readers who, even though you are not Clinton Township residents, now receive our Newsletter. (It's a long story.) Grab an oar and climb aboard! We hope you enjoy the ride. Happy Valentines Day Everyone! *All of them look something like this: "ASAP PLEASE!!! :) :) :) " –Julie Flynn **Because anyone under the age of thirty is just "a kid" to me. 2 0 1 3 1

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