Piggly Wiggly

"Oh, how I long for the days of the Piggly Wiggly."

Piggly Wiggly was the first true self-service grocery store. It was founded on September 6, 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee by Clarence Saunders.  This "new" model of grocery store would change the way Americans shopped for groceries.

For about 15 years now, since around the time the gay community discovered Wilton Manors and adopted it as their own, there's been a drive (pun intended) to change the character of Wilton Drive, the main drag through the central part of the island city. The most common refrain is to "make it more like Las Olas," which is a 7-block stretch between downtown Fort Lauderdale and the beach to the east. East Las Olas Boulevard is peppered with high-end shops, restaurants and bars and it's been a touristy place since the days of Spring Break and "Where the Boys Are."

When I moved to Wilton Manors in 1987, this tiny piece of real estate was just a suburb of downtown Fort Lauderdale. Surrounded by the south fork of the Middle River, it was home to doctors, judges, bank vice presidents and school teachers with a population of 11,000 or so. Mostly middle class, we were neighbors with others like us, young families with school age children.

In those days, there was a Piggly Wiggly in the shopping center on Wilton Drive at NE 6th Avenue. It was accompanied by a Social Security office, a paint store, a small exercise studio and a coffee shop. A bar with a pool table occupied the corner store, naturally called "The Corner Pocket," and the end spot adjacent to the Drive sold sunglasses.

To the south were little strip shopping centers in the blocks along Wilton Drive. There was quite a variety of offerings that regular people might need or want. A plant nursery on the south side of the shopping center offered native and exotic plants cultivated in decorative clay pots along with  advice on how to get things to grow. Next to the nursery was a strip center with an antique store, a record store, a doll shop, a quilting shop, and About Town Lock & Safe, which I think is still in business today. Across the street was my favorite thrift shop, Hidden Treasures. The two women who ran it had big personalities and a whole lot of style and their ever changing collection of merchandise made a favorite spot for many local fashionistas.

Dairy Queen, painted by Nia Nakis

On the west side of The Drive further south you would have found an office supply store, insurance agency, and hair salons. The Junior League Thrift Shop was a fun visit, offering high end women's clothing and accessories for really good prices. There were two laundromats, a Burger King, a camera shop and a few bars and restaurants, the best of which was Wings 'n Things. And, Dairy Queen, which survives today and is a landmark for locals and visitors alike.

Since the Great Recession, a lot of things have changed around town. Taller buildings. More people and more cars. Lots of bars and restaurants. And, not many businesses like what there was when I came here to live.

I get that change is inevitable, but, I don't think all change is good. Sometimes we need to just leave things alone. Humans have the tendency to be short sighted and I thing that's what's happened to Wilton Drive. Many of today's small businesses struggle to survive. With little daytime traffic and the overall impact on retail of the internet, it's a tough go for those selling their wares. Rents continue to climb and local leadership tends toward creating a "tourist destination" rather than serving the tax paying residents in the community.

Wilton Drive is never going to be like Las Olas Boulevard. You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Eventually, they will figure it out, but, for me, it's a time gone by. Hence, I long for the days of the Piggly Wiggly, when things were easier.

Wilhelmina's 30+ Model Search

One of my Pinterest boards is titled "How To Age Gracefully." The added copy reads: "In our world of scientific discovery, we now know there are things we can do to be fit and healthy until we're a hundred-plus years old. Sadly, our culture doesn't yet embrace the wisdom and beauty of age. I've decided to help change that. That's what this board is all about."

I cannot begin to tell you what a challenge it is to find ways to shape the public's perception of aging. As a "baby boomer," I know I am accompanied by a large number of women who have successful careers, are healthy and physically fit, and who have accomplished many things in their lifetimes. The roles women of our generation have played are varied, to say the least. They have played the roles of wife, mother, professional, public servant, elected official, volunteer and artist, to name just a few, and, in some cases, these women have had more than one career. I'm a good example of that last one. I'm on career number three!

So, there I am with my 'aging gracefully' pin board, trying to find images AND content to convey how cool it really is to be older than 40 (and, it IS cooler!) and an e-mail from Wilhelmina's Model Agency lands in my mailbox touting the "30+ Model Search." I went to the web site to take a look, and decided to vote for Isa A., age 65, pictured here.

She says, when asked "why" she wants the job: "I would love the opportunity to model for Wilhelmina to show all the up-and-coming baby boomers how great it is to be comfortable in one's skin at a later age, and how wonderful it can be to keep reinventing ourselves. We CAN stay healthy, sexy, intelligent, and confident, all with a great attitude."

Her words got my vote as much as her looks did. However, I do have a beef with Wilhelmina's Model Agency. As I paged through the 30 "semi-finalists," it seemed that the majority of them were 30-something. So. I counted. Sixteen are 30-to-39. Seven are 40-to-49. Five are in their fifties. Two, including Isa A., are in their 60s. Isa is the oldest, although I didn't know that when I voted for her. I like her style and she spoke to my generation, which is what I thought this was all about. Clearly, I was wrong.

To put women in their thirties and forties next to women in their fifties and sixties is not a good comparison. They are in two very different life stages. I can hear you out there, asking how the heck I know this! Because .... because, I have been those other ages and I remember very clearly where I was at 34 or 45 ...

Age 34

Age 45

Age 52

Age 60

For one thing, I was still wearing a bikini. Right up to my 55th birthday!

Then menopause arrived, as it is prone to do to women of a "certain age."

And, I'm thinking that this is where the rub comes in.

Hormones dictate so much in the lives of women. As adolescents entering puberty, our hormones are raging and all we can think about is how we look and what boys (and, other girls) think of us.

Around the late 20s and early 30s, we begin to stabilize and become focused on things like career and/or family. And, we pretty much stay stable until sometime in our late 40s and early 50s when we move into the menopause phase. (Which, by the way, is much like adolescence, occurring over a period of years!)

Finally, we get to what I affectionately refer to as the "Fuck You Fifties," because it is here, at this point in life, that we begin to accept ourselves and become truly comfortable in our own skin. And, it's not like we have a choice in the matter! Aging is something all of us must do.




Our mothers aged differently than we are doing. As "boomers," we have had the advantages of good nutrition and medical research, and we have reaped the benefits of multiple fitness programs. Whether you walk, swim, ride a bike, dance or hike, you've got to keep moving! Use it or lose it is really, truly true. Using our bodies is what keeps us youthful, in more ways than one!

I take issue with Wilhelmina's 30+ Model Search. Like the MORE Magazine Beauty Searches of years past, it was all about helping us to like ourselves once we moved past 40 years old. The fifties have been a mish-mash of media trying to adjust to women who won't go away, who still participate in all that life has to offer. Today, 10,000 "baby boomers" reaches 65 every day! EVERY SINGLE DAY for the next 19 years! So we are definitely a force to be reckoned with! (Marketers, pay attention!) And, I truly believe it is up to us to change the perceptions of aging we share in this culture we live in ~ to shape it so that younger women can see that there is so much to look forward to. Life is not over at 30. Or 40. Or 50! It's just beginning.

Like Isa said, "We CAN stay healthy, sexy, intelligent and confident, all with great attitude!" I don't know how to get that message to Wilhelmina's Model Agency unless I can scream it from the rooftops of New York City! Or, maybe, just here on my little blog and on my Pinterest "How To Age Gracefully" pin board. If you share my feelings on this subject, please! Chime in! Share! It's OK to age. It happens to all of us. We're not finished yet. So, don't act like we are!

Changing with the times ...

One thing is certain about life on the Internet: it changes at the speed of light. I've been tooling around cyberspace for about 15 years now, and whenever I think about it, I find myself stunned at the rate of change here. I don't think THIS was what they had in mind when I was studying calculus in college!

Today I decided to create a new blog header. I had some free time on my hands and started fooling around in Photoshop. While I liked my old header with the 'vintage' photos of me and pictures of cameras, I think my blog reflects the changes I'm experiencing in my life. Some changes go with the aging process. Some accompany the rapid changes in technology. I can post to my blog from my 'smart phone,' and that's a feature that wasn't available to me when I began this blog more than two years ago. But, those aren't the only reasons for changing it. A big part of it is staying "fresh."  Same ole, same ole gets old after a while, so I'm introducing something new.

For my cherished followers, I hope you'll like what I've done. And, I hope you'll leave a comment and let me know if you do. Or, don't. I don't do this to please you, but I enjoy it when you notice what I've done.

Like everyone else out here in cyberspace, I'm looking to connect. How else can I leave my mark on the world?

Photo, above: University Drive & Stirling Road ... one of the last remaining cow pastures, some cattle herons and lots of traffic. I can remember when everything out here was agriculture. Now it's all residential development and shopping centers. "The times, they are a changing!"