MSLD521.RB_BeldottiLou: A521.3.4.RB_PersonalReflection

A521.3.4.RB

Personal Reflection

I stand at the door of being an official senior citizen. Whatever that means. I am 52. How I got here still befuddles me. Heck, AARP was sending me mail when I was about 47. That use to make me upset. I didn’t feel or look like I had almost reached the half of a century mark but AARP knew. Oddly enough, after my 50^th birthday, I accepted AARP’s invitation.

When I was a child, life was different. A cordless phone was pretty new technology. We had one. We still hand a princess slim-line wall mounted phone with a rotary dial but we had entered a new age with this phone that had a long metal telescopic antenna and would let us walk around the house untethered to a curly-Q cord.

Technology. This was it. We didn’t have cell phones, computers, tablets, remote controls or even a microwave oven. We were free from electronics. We ate dinner together and actually spoke to on another. Technology now tethers us to what we consider life. It’s sad. Without technology, we played outside. We went out in the morning and did not return until the street lights came on. If we wanted to communicate with others, we had to go home to use the phone, ride our bikes to a friend’s home and even write letters to our friends that lived far away.

Sadly, technology is now the new normal. I have adapted and assimilated. I go nowhere without my cell phone. It is more than a phone, however. It connects me to the world. I have the internet, a phone and more at my fingertips anywhere that I might find myself.

I do miss the good old days though. The days of my youth had a great impact on who I am today. These days created who I am.

I found focus early on by building scale models. This focus gave me great attention to detail. I would save money and buy all sorts of models. I built an operating 350 hp engine. The engine block was clear and when running (off of battery power and not fossil fuel), I could watch the pistons, crank and camshaft articulate. I also built a replica of the Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) which actually shot out projectiles, a hotrod with a chrome German Czar Helmet, Universal Studio’s glow-in-the-dark replica monsters like Frankenstein’s monster, the Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon along with different models of cars and ships. I spend hours assembling these items surrounded by glue, emery files, Exact-O knives, paints and sand paper. I would make every part fit perfectly and paint them to exacting detail. I would display my finished products on my dresser for all to admire. My grandparents encouraged me and reigned praise upon me about how perfect these models were assembled. Sadly, when my grandparent’s summer home caught fire in the 1980s, I lost all of my creations but not my attention to detail.

When I reached my latter teenage years, my new passion became cooking. As a younger child, I would watch my Sicilian Grandmother and Italian Aunt prepare and cook awesome dishes that always drew a crowd. Homemade sauces, eggplant parmesan, seafood dishes and so much more. I would ask questions about preparation and ingredients. They would let me help. My skills continued to grow and I began to teach myself. I actually made my first homemade red sauce at the age of fourteen. My Grandmother gave me her seal of approval. This experience made my technically proficient. I brought this proficiency into my adulthood. Because of my Army experiences, I was able to travel the globe and began adding more and more cuisines to my repertoire. As a matter of fact, my passion now is cooking centric. I can’t wait to get home and cook. Here are a few of my creations: