Support Your Local Everything

I have mentioned before that I live in "The Center of the Universe," also known as Manchester, Michigan.

Manchester takes a certain amount of pugnacious pride in being classified as “a small town.” A very small town, in fact. Heck, we’re so small we don’t even have a fast food place!

But you might also be surprised at how much else this small town has to offer.

In past columns for “M” Magazine I have focused on the importance of supporting local events and businesses. And as far as naming names, I’ve really barely scratched the surface.

This time, I’m putting in a plug for the many services you can enjoy without leaving our little corner of Washtenaw County.

You can put your money with the financial institutions that run the appealing ad campaigns on television, billboards, and Facebook … or you can deal with one of our local banks where you’re more than just a number. You’re a person and they know your name. They might not be open 24/7 like the big city banks, but they have ATMs, Internet Banking, and plenty of other options to serve you wherever you are and whenever you need them. Best of all, you don’t have to deal with someone in New York City or San Francisco … or India … when you want to speak to a real person.

Need a haircut, color, manicure or pedicure? All of those services are available at the locally-owned barber shop and styling salons right here in Manchester. Some are open on weekends. Most of them accept walk-in clients. You may not get one of those $8.99 cuts you see advertised but the prices will be equally reasonable once you consider your travel time and the gas it takes to drive out of town. Once again, the people you deal with will be local and they want your look to be good advertising for them, so you will get excellent professional service. Call for an appointment, and I’m betting they’ll bend over backwards to get you in and show you what they can do.

And since I am on my blog instead of in the magazine, I can mention that my daughter works at one of those salons. Marti's Salon, in fact. 734-428-7616. And she's excellent (Sadly, my own hair does not always provide her the best advertisement ... but she tries very hard, and I'd look a lot worse without her help). 

We have all made the acquaintance of Flo the Progressive gal, or the Geico gecko, once again through their entertaining ads on TV. I love the ads, too … but then I consider what might happen if I suddenly needed their service at a moment’s notice. Flo is probably getting her hair and makeup done for her next shoot, and the gecko … well, let’s just say he’s not going to show up and be terribly helpful. Adorable, but not helpful. You can choose to purchase insurance from a local agent. If you call during the day, you get a real person who probably knows exactly who you are.  If you have an after-hours emergency, you’re invited to call the owner’s cell phone. To me, that’s comforting, and real “insurance.” If I need them, they’ll be there.

Doctors, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors, and other health care professionals are all available right here in Manchester. Most of them live right here in the community and take an active interest in what is happening on Main Street as well as inside your mouth, your eye, or anywhere else in your body. They have chosen to serve their neighbors here in their hometown rather than make it easy for themselves by joining a big corporate practice. Most of them are active in civic organizations as well, so they are constantly reaching out to help their community in their personal lives too. You can be proud to support these great people in their chosen professions, by seeking your health care locally.

You may argue that the price is higher when you shop locally. I still contend that once you figure in the time you spend getting somewhere else, the cost of gas, and the convenience factor, that you may actually be saving money by buying in Manchester. In addition, you help to guarantee that those goods and services will continue to be available here, where it’s convenient, friendly, and safe.

There are dozens of other business services that I haven’t mentioned yet—contractors, photographers, painters, caterers, printing and graphic design, automotive repair shops, floral designers, and a multitude of other small miscellaneous services that you might not expect to find in such a “small town.”

We have a wealth of talents right here in Manchester! If you live nearby, I hope you'll take advantage of them. If you don't, try checking out the resources in your own hometown. You might be surprised at what you'll find! And make sure you let these businesses know that you appreciate the services they offer close to home. 

Trust me—they don’t hear that often enough. 

An anniversary, of sorts

I started this blog one year and two days ago, and I've published 50+ blog entries since then. I guess I might as well celebrate.

I read my original blog entry a couple of days ago and I guess in many ways, things have not changed appreciably since that time. I'm still vitally interested in most of the same things--healthy eating and living, buying locally, protecting the environment, figuring out ways to live more simply, and trying to navigate the ever-more-confusing health care hurdles.

I'm not sure I've totally lived up to the hype of my first blog since I think I must have expected everyone to sign on and beg for more. Maybe I've watched a little too much "Julie and Julia," and thought that people would magically flock to my site just to see what I had to say that day. Or that week. Or that month.

Oops, maybe that's the problem. I haven't been as disciplined as Julie was. I am not blogging daily or even weekly. Despite the fact that this is my 52nd blog in one year, I can see that there are times when there have been long lags between posts. And times when I posted two or three times in one week. Sometimes, I've cheated by re-posting something that I found elsewhere. Hey, I've found that counts for other people. And you know, Margaret and Helen sometimes go months in between posts, but there's constant activity on that site.

I probably overestimated myself--again. I'm not Julie. And I'm not Helen. I'm just Marsha. At 56, I think I'm OK with that.

On the bright side, however, I have 2,187 page views (OK, how many of them are mine and how many are from other people ... I am not sure). I've had comments, both public and private, from close friends and even from one or two unexpected corners of the world. I've discovered several other blogs, some of which I now follow. Some are written by friends and others by people I've never met. I read an article the other day about how a lot of people think that blogs have gone by the wayside in the face of Twitter and Facebook, but that they're still an important means of communication and networking. I tend to agree with that assessment. I can't say everything I want to say on Facebook, and I can't bring myself to Twit, or Tweet, or whatever they call it. So, regardless of who's reading it, or what they're saying, I guess I'll just keep posting here.

If you are so inclined, of course, you're always welcome to comment here on the blog site. Or on my Google "Buzz" page. Or by emailing me at marshajc@gmail.com.

See you back here soon. (Very soon; seeing as how I'm going to cheat again and post another column from the magazine here ... because I want to.)

Keep on Keepin' on

Today is Groundhog Day. Whenever I think about Groundhog Day, a certain song starts running through my head: "I've Got You, Babe." 

I know – the sound track in my head is evidence that I have probably seen the movie, Groundhog Day one too many times. I'm sure you've seen it too--newscaster Phil Connors, played by comedian Bill Murray, goes to Punxatawney, PA, to cover the Official Groundhog story.

While there, he has what must be the world's record of consecutive bad days. Each night he goes to bed thinking how much he messed up that day, and figuring that tomorrow has to get better. The next morning he wakes up at the same time and hears the same song on the radio - "I've Got You, Babe," and the radio announcer starts in with the same announcements he's heard the day before. He walks out the door and runs into the same old high school acquaintance. And he has to keep covering the same story.

And every day, he makes the same stupid mistakes over … and over.

Finally, he realizes he is doomed to repeat Groundhog Day until he gets it right.

Now there's a fantasy for you. Wouldn't it be great if we could all repeat our bad days until we got them right? What a golden opportunity. How long might it take us all to get things right?  Would we ever get it right? 

Probably in a way we do end up re-playing those days, if only in our heads. We are always second-guessing ourselves and wondering if what we did was the right thing. It’s so easy to muse, “what if I'd done it differently?”

Starting over can be a frightening thought, though. I can think of plenty of bad days that I would not want to repeat. The days with embarrassing moments, heartbreaks and words I wish I hadn’t said. Yet, I can call them to mind all too vividly at a moment’s notice. I am reliving them, re-thinking them and repeating them – probably worse than if I woke up to “I’ve Got You, Babe” every morning on the radio.

It seems no matter how hard we try to do things differently a second (or third) time, they tend to turn out the same way  Patterns of behavior are ingrained sort of like the weather. We mere mortals tend to repeat our mistakes, and only by an extreme act of will can we divert our deeply entrenched habits and courses of action.

If I had the chance to repeat a given day of my life, would I end up doing any better? Would I be like the hapless Groundhog, awakened from a winter’s slumber and just groggily going through the motions? Or would I, like Phil Connors, simply move through the day on auto pilot and make the same mistakes I made originally?

As a mother I always hoped that somehow, after all the blunders I have committed in my life, I could help my kids avoid making the same mistakes that I had made. As parents I suppose we would all like to spare our children the second-guessing and regrets that comprise the Groundhog Day syndrome.

But our kids are only human, too. They will falter along the way, just like we did. You can’t tell them what to do. Well, you can – but they probably won’t listen.

We can hope, however, that just like us, they will find a way to redeem themselves and come out wiser for their experiences.

Maybe the beauty of this movie’s message to us is the idea that we can end up getting it right, after all, and move on from there. There is no more need to re-hash the past. Instead, we ought to look toward the future and all it has to offer.

Not a bad message at all.