As I stare at the blank page not knowing what I should write about, I find myself at a loss for words. Which for a person like myself is a rare anomaly. I ask and pray for guidance as I retrace my week looking for inspiration. Day after day, I recover memories from a busy work week where the only thing unusual or different was that this past week included Halloween, a day where people dress up as something or someone else. At first I didn’t think that I had a lesson in the week and almost thought that I finally hit a moment in my life where there was no mystery to discover. Boy, was I wrong.

As I recapped each day I felt empty or without inspiration until I came to the last day of the week. A day my husband and I took a drive over the mountain in his 1947 Plymouth Special Deluxe automobile to attend Vintage Days in Asheville. Vintage Days is a festival that specializes in antiques.

Honestly, there was nothing extraordinary that happened on the drive except it was a beautiful fall day complete with crisp air and colorful leaves that clung to the trees. I don’t know what it is about Autumn, but nothing is more spectacular than all the colors the mountains show us this time of year. Making the trip special was also the fact that we listened to music from the 1950’s. Duke Ellington, Dean Martin, Doris Dayand many other greats from the era filled the car with song as we drove.

The vintage market was nice, but they had a lot more reproductions than my husband John and I like. We prefer real antiques over new items made to look old, but it was still fun to look around. We actually found a few things we liked and even made a few of purchases.

There were also lots of unique booths set up that sold everything from candles to candy. One particular booth caught my eye. It was for a face cream that gave you non-surgical facelift-like results. Naturally, I let the sales lady show me how it worked.

As I sat in a chair behind the counter, a pretty young lady with a foreign accent proceeded to apply this miracle cream to the bags under my eyes. Starting with my right eye and letting two minutes pass, John watched as he saw the lines and puffiness from that eye completely disappear. His facial expression was priceless. Unfortunately, the cream was too. On sale, “Today Only”, it cost $249.

She held the mirror up to my face for me to see and I must say the results were amazing. The right side of my face looked 10 years younger. Thankfully, she applied the cream to my left eye so both sides of my face looked the same. I left the booth telling her I needed to think about it. After all, $250 is a lot of money.

Ultimately, we got back in our vintage car and left without purchasing the amazing cream. On the way home, we listened to some more classic tunes and as darkness fell, I napped. We arrived home at 8pm and that is where you find me now, at the computer writing this week’s story.

I prayed for clarity as I stared at the blank page and after recapping my whole week, found a mystery on the last day of my week.

Sometimes life’s mysteries can be very ironic.

A Fall Sunday drive in a classic car listening to old music as we headed over to The Vintage Days to purchase antiques found me sitting in a chair having a young lady apply cream to my face to make me look younger! If that is not irony, I don’t know what is.

Everything about our day was a celebration of aging. Even Autumn leaves fall because of changes in the length of daylight and temperature; the leaves stop their food-making process. The chlorophyll breaks down, the green color disappears, and the yellow to orange colors become visible and give the leaves part of their fall splendor. The aging leaf is more beautiful than ever.

The vintage signs we purchased were special because of the blemishes of rust and wear and tear that give them character.

The classic car was eye catching and comfortable and the music was familiar and soothing and both were all made more special because they are old.

Which brings me to this one singular observation.

Age reveals wisdom, history and a unique beauty in cars, in trees, in antiques, and in people, isn’t it ironic! Life is Mysterious