Being Single with Cats

Today I heard on a radio program, as I was driving to work, that  women who do not get married end up being old hags who breed cats. I was horrified at the quote. Lucky for me that traffic was moving as slow as a tortoise otherwise for sure I would have crashed my car. Dramatic here, I guess. But I actually looked at the radio and said “What?” in a loud voice.

I guess that the statement was horrifying because the speaker was describing me. Not that I breed cats but do have a quite happy life not married and with my two cats; or perhaps it was horrifying because one would think that people can live their lives as they wish; with a family, without a family, with pets or without them in 2017 without being judged or labeled.

Maybe there are some people who are born not to be in a serious relationship forever. It is not something that I constantly think about. But it does cross my mind every once in a while. Not that I have anything against marriage. Been there and done that. It is just that being in a relationship just to show society that you are following its rules makes no sense to me.

There are some people that are born into families where they are brought up to be spouses and parents. On the other hand there are some people who are not. Being a mother was not part of my plans; however, if it had happened I would not be depressed over it and would have done my best to try to bring up the child into an independent individual. There is just so much more to life that all these labels and norms that society places on us.

Live and let live. That is my motto.

Written June 19, 2017 Todos os direitos reservados a Meire Marion

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Pollyanna? Me?

People say things without really knowing the meaning behind the words they choose to blurt out. And if I have learned anything along these 50 years, one thing that I have learned ( the hard way) is that not everyone says a word meaning the same as the one who listens. Words mean different things to different people. Loads of misunderstandings happen because of this.

Anyhow, I have just finished reading Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter. The reason why I started to read it is because someone at worked let out a “You´re so Pollyanna” at me the other day so I decided to read it to see what it meant to be Pollyanna.

Pollyanna tells the story of a young girl who comes from a Christian family and a rough childhood. She loses her parents at an early age and has to go live with a mean aunt. In a nutshell, she ends up making the whole town change their ways and look at life in a more positive way. Until in the end she is put to the test and all her hard work with the people in the town has paid off.

Now, am I so Pollyanna? Well, to be honest I thought she was a bore. So perhaps I am a bore. Maybe it would be wise to make a list here of her characteristics and then match them to mine.

1.      She comes from a Christian family. I don´t. I come from a Catholic family.

2.      She lost her parents at an early age. I didn´t. Mom is still alive and dad passed away this past February at 76.

3.      She tries to see positive things in negative situations. I do that some times.

4.      She cannot see the negative side of a situation. I can.

5.      She loves everyone she meets and tries to help each one of them. I don´t.

6.      (spoiler alert) She stops walking and is bedridden and then has a really hard time finding something positive in that. Same thing happened to me but I was able to accept the condition faster than her. And after hard work, faith and willpower, I regained my strength and was able to walk again.

7.      She is loved by the people around her and she transforms their lives. Some people say that I am an inspiration. But I know that not everyone is pleased with my presence.

          To conclude, I guess that I can be somewhat of a Pollyanna. I would just like to remember who said it to me so I can check with them what they meant by it.

(By the way, I have started reading Pollyanna Grows Up. Let´s see if I can still see myself in this character.)Written June 26, 2017

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