Brian inspired me to write about

BRAND LOYALTY, but instead I went off  in another direction all together..........

Living where I do, I have grown up in the shadow of Proctor & Gawd ahem Gamble.  I have attended numerous focus groups and been part of many product line studies.  I have enjoyed these and been paid very well.  I am a curious person, and I have talked with many people about their own particular favorites.  Bri posted this and I quietly snickered to myself as I read the comments from women. Yes, I know most of the women in this country do most of the laundry for their families, but what most don't understand is that they are brainwashed into it.  LOL  From a young age I remember spending days with my grandmother.  She was a professional housewife, the kind you don't see or hear about anymore. She was so well organized.  Her life made such sense and she was able to instill order in all of her family. Monday was laundry day ( can you imagine having one day to get all your laundry done?)  Obviously I never mastered her system but I remember certain things. Morning was work and after lunch was dinner prep then at 2pm was time for her 'stories' Soap Opera's.  Later I remember coming home from school and watching Another world with her.  I knew all the characters and their assorted pasts.  Anyway some of the best parts of the soap opera's were the COMMERCIALS! A child of divorce in the early 1970's, I liked to imagine my life any other way.  I remember the bright happy families that were portrayed in these P&G commercials.  Happy children running through freshly hung laundry, chasing their dog they had just bathed.  Or mom and dad tucking them into their warm, cozy beds while they inhaled that downey smell and drifted off to sleep. Happy Mother's mopping their shiney floors.  Baking cookies for the kids to eat as soon as they came in from school.  Yep it was a picture perfect life on TV.

Maybe that explains why I tried to be the perfect mom to my older children.  Underneath it all maybe I really believed if I folded the socks correctly, and spent every moment with them, then they would have a perfect childhood.  I certainly made every effort to do the exact opposite of my own upbringing.  I used my childhood as an anti-venom, thinking about what happened and completely doing the opposite thing in my adult life.

 Isn't it amazing how one day you realize stuff? Looking back I see how,seemingly random,choices had to have been subconsciously chosen.  I see how my husband not only wooed me to him, but how he broke down my total resolve to never marry or have children. I was very jaded about both when I was younger, I remember actually saying to friends right before our wedding "that if it lasts 5 years I will be very surprised." I was told that was a teribble attitude to have, to which I replied "it is the only one I have." Anyway how did he do it you ask?  He did it by showing me over and over what a fantastic husband/father he would be. And that in turn led me to believe that he thought I would be a good wife/mother.

So what happened? Well he is a fantastic father and I am a good mom depending on the phase of moon and the amount of alcohol in my system. a glass of wine makes mom feel fine...

 I will share this, a true measure of my parenting timeline~ My oldest 16 talking to my youngest 6 on the eve of her first day at school in 1st grade. "When I started school, I cried everyday after school, the first week of school, because my teacher yelled at us sometimes." My 6 yr old said  "Why did you cry, mom yells at us too?" 16 yr old: " When I was little, mom never yelled, or cussed and she was really nice all the time.  That was before she had you tho."  OW!!!!!

I had to interject at this point" I didn't have 2 teenagers either!"

20 years into this marriage, I have been with my husband longer than I was single, we have 3 great children. I have a very good life. How did I get here?  I would like to think it was some great plan, or a reward for my last life.  But in my 40 years I do understand one thing ~ Never discount pure LUCK ~ I know lotsa great people that have had terrible luck in love, or finanaces. I do believe in Karma ~ they will have that great love someday soon.

********************************************************

  So back to the original thought ~ brand loyalties: Have to have:

P&G family here Tide, Cheer, Downy, jif, Charmin or Cottenelle TP

Safeguard soap ,Heinz ketchup,butternut bread,Trauth milk products, Herchey's chocolate, Miracle Whip no Mayo, Fuji film, Aussie shampoo for me, Elizabeth Arden perfume only, Yankee candles, Bath and body works lotions and goodies ..ok enough yes I am spoiled rotten.  I felt like I had to put some personal stuff ~ most women get stuck on laundry .........

Have a great HUMPDAY!!!

 

 

 

Most bloggers I come across are single or divorced I've always felt as the oddball for being married 26 years (though this is my second marriage, but that one only lasted nine months, and no children)
Nice to know that your brand loyalty is on your husband and children.

Thanks for coming 'round to visit. I agree we need more cheerleaders for marriage in the blog world. I like that you share much of your personal life in your stories and observations. I also am delighted for you and your student. Nothing means more than encouragement for a student and it sounds like you have regained some hope. namaste Hope you read this I tried to post on blogger but they wouldn't let me;)