Recollections From a Compact Mirror

“I already know what you’re thinking. Who would want a used up, scratched compact with a miniature powdering puff so small. It would take days to apply my cover up! And what do the letters VF on the cover even mean?”

“Well my friends let me recount a little of my history to you and the secrets lying within me, then maybe you’ll come to see that I am in no way ordinary, but in fact extraordinary! That my scratches   are part of my charm, and why my cover bears the letters VF upon it.”

“I belonged to a woman named Vera Falvo, those are her initials engraved on my cover.  She wasn’t one for fancy, frivolous items which wasted money.  For some reason, she was drawn to me upon seeing me in the shop.  Back then, my paint was lustrous and the sunlight bounced off my gleaming mirror sending rainbows of color cascading off the surrounding walls.  I was quite a stunning sight to behold.  The intricate design created on my cover, coupled with the fresh miniature powder puff to apply the powder once contained within were an immediate draw.  The additional pocket found on my powder puff was designed for a finger to be slipped inside to apply powder effortlessly! I was quite revolutionary in design for that pre-Depression era.”

“Vera fell in love with me instantly, but being the type of woman who didn’t approve of spending money on herself, she left me at the store, heading home to care for her young children and husband.  Money was tight, I was a luxury she could certainly get by without.  That night as her family sat around the dinner table, she must have mentioned seeing me in the shop, and her husband must have picked up on the longing in her voice, because the next day I found myself lifted from the display case, carried to the counter by the shop owner, to be shown to a gruff sounding male with blue eyes as bright as the sky.  (I knew they matched the sky because I’d seen hints of it from my perch in the shop through the glass storefront window).  Then I heard the shopkeeper say,

“Sir if you’d like I could engrave your wife’s initials on the compact’s cover.”

“Why not, she deserves to have something pretty” the blue eyed man responded.

“The next thing I felt was something sharp tearing into my lovely painted cover, but when it stopped I caught a glimpse of myself in the store’s mirror on the countertop and saw I now had the letters VF inscribed on me in beautiful cursive script.  Then everything went dark as I was carefully wrapped and packaged.”

“Suddenly my darkness was brightened by the packaging being excitedly torn away and I was staring at the face of the woman who had lovingly held me in her hands, admiring me only a day prior.  She gasped with delight at the sight of me, running her fingertips over the newly engraved VF, her initials.  Then flung her arms happily around the blue eyed man sitting next to her, watching with pleasure as she unwrapped me.”

“Every day Vera took me out of the box I came in and after inspecting my intricacies, slowly, methodically applied her powder using the specially designed puff.  She even put her favorite pink hued lipstick in the lipstick holder that was attached to me and had also been engraved with her initials. Unfortunately, one day all my powder was used up as well as the lipstick.  Did Vera discard me like some useless object?  No, she kept me out to decorate the surface of her vanity.  One day I felt myself lifted up, and carried off to another part of the house. I thought this was it for me, she was going to shove me in a drawer somewhere since I had outlived my purpose.  Suddenly, I felt my little powder puff removed as I was laid on a table.  Then Vera placed something in the finger pocket of the powder puff, replaced the puff, closed me up, and returned me to my original place on the vanity.  What she placed in the pocket of my powder puff let me know she would always treasure me as special to her.  I breathed a sigh of relief, and set about watching the decades pass from my perch on the vanity. What was it she placed in my pocket you want to know? Look below in the final picture to see.”

A photo of herself was in the pocket!

Social Media Relationships Through the Years

Dawning of New Social Media Networking Circles!!

      Once there was a time when you turned on your computer and the words, “you’ve got mail!” were a source of excitement, breaking the monotony of the daily grind.  Then with the advent of Facebook the new message that set your pulse racing was “you have a friend request.”  Didn’t it make you feel good when you received the message on your Facebook profile page, “(insert a friend’s name here) has accepted your friend request?”  Be honest, you were one of those social media types that kept track of how many friends you accumulated!  We all did it!  It made us feel good that others wanted to know what we were thinking, view our pictures, and our posts.  Then along comes Twitter hot on Facebook’s heels, and now you could tweet your thoughts in less than 140 characters! Amazing!  You were also able to be Twitter buddies with celebrities, famous authors, anyone in the Twittersphere!  Your were filled with pride, when you received tweets from famous celebrities and television personalities, and you were able to view their personal photos giving you a more intimate glimpse into the world of the rich and famous!  Blogs were next to gain popularity among the public with people writing opinions, promotions, posting pictures of their children and pets doing cute and crazy things.  The advent of YouTube only further enhanced the blogging experience since bloggers were able to upload and reshare videos to their sites.  Now enter Google+ which is rapidly overtaking the social media world!  Now the message you receive is no longer for friend requests, but states “____has added you to their circles!”  Yes Google+ has cornered the market when it comes to categorizing your followers into neat groups called circles!  You have the option to share information with specific  circles, for instance if you have a writing piece you wish to share you might only reshare it with your circles that include writers, authors, publishers, and freelancers.  Since the start of 2014 the increase in creating and sharing circles filled with followers numbering in the hundreds, has started taking the G+ community by storm!  I must admit, I’m right in the mix, sharing circles, creating my own circles, and enjoying the opportunity to  meet people from all over the world!  Google+ members seem to have a very positive, mind-set among them.  The members found all over the world refer to each other as friends and exhibit a sense of comradre with fellow members who they may never in their lives get to meet face to face!  It’s a wonderful thing to see! These friendly attitudes are refreshing  and inspiring, helping to create positive bonds between individuals on this social media platform.  I’m not saying there aren’t wonderful people and relationships to be created on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, WordPress blogs, and various other sites, this would be untrue. However,  I’m simply noting that with the creation of the many circles shared among Google+ users, no one seems to be alienated, or judged based on their appearance or job status.  Social media overall is a wonderful way to make connections with magnificent, interesting people throughout the world.  It allows those who wouldn’t otherwise have access, to network with those higher up individuals in their respective fields.  Right now G+ appears to be leading the pack when it comes to networking due to the large number of individuals sharing circles consisting of 500+ members or more!   What will be the next way to  connect people via social media?  I can hardly wait to find out what the future has in store for us all!