A few weeks ago I shared that I had a mid-life crisis.   It seems from the many responses that I am not alone.   Then it dawned on me…maybe a mid-life crisis isn’t about reinventing, but rather, rediscovering!

My family moved to Upper Montclair, NJ from Queens when I was 11.   Life took me to college and then back to Jersey.  We moved to London but always returned to spend time in Jersey.  Now we have been here eight years and I realize what is missing from my life.  You guessed it….Jersey.

Don’t get me wrong. Westchester is beautiful, we all have amazing friends and the children love it here.   So, I realized that in order to rediscover myself I needed to bring some Jersey across state lines.

I have a wonderful piece of car jewelry hanging from my rear view window alongside a pair of purple fuzzy dice.   I will continue to get a dark tan every summer regardless of how jealous it makes the children.  It is not my fault they got their father’s skin.  I will start writing to the creators of the “NJ Shore” to complain how none of the actors are actually from NJ.  I ate lunch last Saturday at Holsteins, site of the very final scene of “The Sopranos.”  I will embrace my sailor mouth.  In fact, thanks to me, none of the children will ever utter a foul word lest he or she would sound like me.  Bet you won’t find that gem in any of the parenting books.  I will not engage in a discussion about Bruce with you if the first album of his that you bought was “Born in the USA.”   I am mourning the loss of Clarence Clemons.

Capping off this period of rediscovery is my most recent acquisition – a jewelry armoire.  I know that my brethren from the four boroughs outside of Manhattan know that this is a four foot tall piece of furniture with drawers and hooks for one’s jewelry.  The really good stuff is in the safe but all of my other pieces now have a proper home.  Speaking of the safe, my poor deluded husband actually thought that we bought the safe for important papers.  I swear to you I honestly believed it was for the girls’ and my jewelry.  After a year of arguing, I finally gave Brian one of the three shelves.

I will continue to ignore that we live in a contemporary and I will choose two rooms to soon be covered in wallpaper.  I will find an old-fashioned seamstress and she will make me drapes using at least four different fabrics and a bit of gold cord.  On the rare occasions I do drink soda these days, it will be a can of TAB.

Come September, I am going to dedicate myself to Arbonne, a second network marketing business (more on that later) and making sales calls for a friend’s company to pay for my dreams.  I will help others who want start a new career on the path of rediscovery.  

A few weeks ago a friend stopped me in the supermarket to ask me about my Arbonne business.  I told her it was going well and moved on. I saw her again last week and she asked me why it was going well.  In fact, why would anyone go into a “scheme” like that?

I tried to explain that network marketing is not only not a scheme, but it is the wave of the future.  Warren Buffet, Richard Branson and Donald Trump have all entered the world of network marketing because they see that it is the only industry right now that is recession proof.

Having your own network marketing business allows you to make your own hours, pick the people with whom you would like to work, buy products you love at a discount, and earn as much or as little as you like.  Some people simply want to earn vacation money and others would like to earn millions.

Building a network is about exposing as many people as possible to your products or services.   It is no different than recommending a new restaurant to your friends, except now you will be paid for your recommendations.

I decided to open this week’s blog writing about business as opposed to ending with it because the economy as we know it is taking a historical turn.   The House passed a bill a few minutes ago that will prevent the US from defaulting on its interest payments tomorrow.  It is assumed that the Senate will do the same tomorrow.   I have been following the debt crisis very closely.  I have shared what is going on with the children.  Our eldest is interested as she feels she will be called upon to defend the US when she arrives overseas for college.  The youngest took literally the headlines reading “Will the World Come to an End on August 2^nd?”   Our 12-year old paid fairly close attention, asking several times if we would be OK.  The 16-year old reminded me that she was going to study science, not politics.  There is one in every crowd.

I tried and tried to find something funny in all of this.  For the first time in a long time, I failed.  Today I will simply cherish my loved ones, count my blessings,  and go out for ice cream.