Good morning and welcome to this week’s Midweek Mélange.  This morning Mr. Smith and I are acting like air traffic controllers for the strapping younger ones unloading all our worldly possessions from the moving truck. And if I thought packing was bad, now the fun really starts.  According to some obscure lists, Wednesdays have been proven to be the most efficient day of the week to get work done, so here’s hoping!  I have the satisfaction of knowing it will end as Wine Wednesday!

Hopefully your Wednesday is a little less stressful.  Pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea and check out some of the recent news items that caught my attention this month.

ROAD TRIP!!!

Su Min spent her first 56 years being a dutiful Chinese woman.  She endured an abusive marriage that she originally thought would be a way out of the drudgery and endless chores she had shouldered at her parents’ home.  She spent years caring for her daughter and then twin grandsons but came to a point where “Life at home is truly too upsetting.”  

At first, she was worried about the social stigma her family would experience if she left, she had resigned herself to her life of drudgery.  Until the day this retired factory worker stumbled upon a video online of someone introducing their camping gear while on a solo road trip.  Always enamored of travel, she started researching everything she could find about road trips and soon made up her mind.  When her grandsons started preschool, she would start on a journey of her own.

Su Min purchased a four-and-a-half by eight-foot rooftop tent for her small Volkswagen hatchback.  She grabbed a minifridge and a rice cooker and on September 24, 2020, she set out on a road trip, basking in her newfound freedom.

An accidental feminist icon, she has been documenting her journey for her more than 1.35 million followers across several social media platforms, as well as being an international personality.  Women send her messages, sharing their own stories and cheering her on. They greet her at her nightly destination with fruit and homecooked meals.  She hopes to cover all of China on her solo road trip, so don’t expect her home for several years.  

You can read more about Su Min in this New York Time’s article.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A LIST???

I love making lists and reading lists so when I spotted Esquire’s 38 Documentaries That Will Change Your Life, I knew I had to check it out.  It is an inspiring list and there are several I want to watch in the future.  I was delighted to note a couple of my personal favorites on the list.  Mr. Smith and I both thoroughly enjoyed Man on Wire and Won’t You Be My Neighbor?  But if your time is limited and you must choose just one from the list to watch, I would recommend Honeyland.

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Honeyland is the story of Hatidze Muratova, one of the last Macedonians to practice beekeeping in the Balkan Mountains.  Hatidze lives with her ailing mother in a village without roads, electricity or running water.  She ekes out a living selling her honey in small batches at the market in the closest city, a four hour walk away.  The film is visually beautiful, telling the story of an extraordinary woman.  It is a look into a very different way of life, but an acknowledgement of some of our similarities.  No spoiler here, but I had to smile at what Hatidze searched out to purchase at the market after selling her honey.

DRESSED TO THE NINES

I was happy I stumbled on this Inspired Life Washington Post article, This woman, 82, dresses to the nines each Sunday for virtual church.  La Verne Ford Wimberly of Tulsa, Oklahoma is an 82-year-old retired educator who must have a bigger closet than I do.  She would need it just for her collection of hats which numbers somewhere around 50.  

Since March 29, 2020, she has taken photos of herself each Sunday in one of her stunning color-coordinated outfits that she has carefully selected from her closet, jewelry boxes and hat boxes.  She has posted her colorful photo each and every Sunday and has been inundated with positive responses.  She keeps a running list of what she wears each Sunday, not wanting to commit the faux pas of wearing the same outfit twice!

La Verne credits a junior high teacher for her interest in fashion.  As a young teenager, she noticed this teacher wore a different beautiful outfit to school each day.  When La Verne became a teacher herself, she decided to emulate her teacher’s example and dress up for the kids.

If this 82-year-old retiree can make the effort every Sunday as she meticulously dresses for her Zoom church, I think we can all occasionally leave our sweats in the drawer. 

C’est la vie.