Embracing Change with Ruthy and Oprah, Only Oprah's More Famous!

Change.

We're told to embrace change, yet we hate it. Fear it. Dagnabbit, we downright just plain smack-dab do not like to change one little bit, right? We sit on the same side of church... maybe the same pew, week after week.

My friend Mia sent this because we think alike... Go for the gold. Never give up. Eat chocolate regularly. ;)

We order the same coffee continuously at Starbucks, a little afraid to try that new Salted Caramel Mocha because we might waste $4. (It's delicious, by the way... tried it in St. Loo. Had a gift card so my risk was MINIMAL with someone else's money, LOL!)


We rarely drive a different route to the same old place because, well... we don't.


And DETOURS ANNOY US.


AND WE LIKE TO BUY 5 PAIRS OF JEANS THAT FIT US PROPERLY BECAUSE WE KNOW HOW RARE THAT IS.


Yup. We're generally not big on change.


Until it happens and we get used to it and realize that the new turn our lives took was better than anything since sliced bread. And I, for one, like UNSLICED BREAD just fine, thank you very much, there's nothing like it, right? Why, we've got my recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook and my kitchen right over at the Yankee-Belle Cafe right now!

Okay, this is Ruthy circa 2002... A bunch o' youse like to call it my "NUN" picture and you know who you are.


Brats, the lot o' youse! :)


Note the turtleneck... The blazer... The sweet cross... My writer's pin. My friend Jim Millet took this picture after we did a "Mary Kay" makeover writers' meeting. And yes, the hairstyle is THE EXACT SAME as the one I had in my senior picture in high school. Twelve years before. ;)


Oy.

And here's Oprah... Now there's a woman who has embraced change. She's lived the ups and downs, goods and bads of her life in the public eye and not only was savvy enough to cash in on it, she's helped others in countless ways. You know how I love Ben Franklin. His wisdom, wit, and wiles, and will... He said, "Having been poor is no shame; being ashamed of it is ."

Oprah owns her past and uses her time and talent to help others. And make money. I love seeing smart, savvy women succeed and while we're polar opposites politically, here is a woman who has made "change" butter her daily bread

That takes guts, courage, brains and a comfort level with public exposure that few people have. But we can attain it... God offers us amazing opportunity, but our human stick-in-the-mud-I-want-it-my-way-and-right-now attitudes are often our own stumbling blocks.


WHY DO WE DO THAT???? TRIP OVER OUR OWN EGOS AND ATTITUDES? 'SUP WI' DAT?????

So here I am picking out a puppy. This is Maddie, the pup who grew up to be our wonderful first mother... Naughtiest puppy EVER, but she's a great dog.
What would it have been like if I gave up on this naughty Golden Retriever puppy? Like Garth Brooks' "The Dance" (one of my favorite songs of all time) I'd have missed out on a lifetime of wonderful by trying to diminish a year of pesky puppy-ness


Oprah's struggles with weight and self-image are well documented. She was in millions of living rooms daily, people watching her laud diets and weight loss plans, lifestyle changes, exercise programs.


I'm going to go with diets are not fun. Self-denial is not fun. Weighing grams of ANYTHING that isn't a newborn child is not fun.


But she did it, right? For all of us to see. And she made fun of her failures and made us feel normal. Because we are.


When I hear "The Dance" I'm reminded of the Erma Bombeck saying I have on my desk, a gift from one of my beloved young mothers: "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I do not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me."

How that would please God! That the talent he gave went well used and not frittered away on fears, worries and what if's.


What if I fail?


What if I'm rejected?


What if I lose?


What if I'm embarrassed?


Oh, please. Those are CHARACTER BUILDERS. Not for the fictional buds that crowd your brain, but for you. For me. For us. Every step we take builds our "platform". If you keep moving, the ground beneath you becomes more solid, because each step forward brings growth. WHAT IF THAT BABY REFUSED TO STAND????

See what I mean? They don't. Even though they fear, the inherent (had to slip an SAT word in here someplace, you know????) urge to walk thrusts them forward.

We've watched people love and hate this woman. We've watched her build an empire financially, politically and collectively. She's a powerhouse, and we tend to have more problems with women being aggressive and assertive and successful than we do with men of the same ilk. (great word: ilk. LOVE IT!!!!)


But that's our problem, not hers. She has ridden the tides of change for decades, managing to turn turmoil into success. Amazing.
I got my hair cut after I got the call...

AND I LOVED IT!!! HOW FUN IS THIS, KICKY. SASSY. SAUCY!!!!

But after that first cut, we could never get it quite right again....

Oh mylanta, who knew that messing with a 35 year old hairdo could cause such angst???? Such trauma????



And then my buds at Harlequin said: "Love the pic, but it's grainy. You need a high resolution pic, could you get one done please????" (Obviously for the THRONGING MASSES OF FANS, right????)

So I did:

And my family hated it.

Michelle at Solutions Spa said, "Why didn't you come in and have me do your hair first???"

Gulp.

Umm, didn't think of it because I'm SO NOT a person who gets professional photos done. Like... ever.

Oy again.

So Mandy (daughter of my heart and mother of Mary Ruth) and Beth (younger daughter and mother of Elijah and Baby Xavier) decided to borrow a $1000 CAMERA FROM BETH'S BOSS AND USE IT TO TAKE NEW HIGH RES PICS.

Did you see that $1000 price tag?????? Read it again, just in case you missed it. You know me. You know my life is filled with dogs, cats, kids and TODDLERS. Do you have any clue how much havoc one toddler can wreak on a cheap device??? Much less a costly one?????

But in the end my fears were for naught. In the middle of a crazy day of children, animals, visitors, etc., Mandy did a five minute photo session in the front yard:

Done. Note that we didn't pan "out" to see the weeds. Or peeling paint. No way, Jose! And if you noticed that the auburn of old has been softened to the blonde of new, well, yes.

It has.

Because L'Oreal offers choices to old gals like me, and I decided to embrace one.... Because change is good!

Oprah ended her show this year to move on to other things.

I changed my hair.

It's okay to start small. It's just not okay to sit still and let life move around you. Grab hold. Seize the day, the moment. Embrace life.

And change.

Okay, here's the deal for today, my friends!!! I'm giving away copies of Yuletide Hearts to three commenters....

So here is the gorgeous, I-LOVE-IT-SO-MUCH cover of bad boy Matt Cavanaugh's story: "Yuletide Hearts"

It's just been released to subscribers and will be available on harlequin.com in two weeks... And in stores around November 15th.

Get it here, FIRST. Leave a comment.... Get yourself in for the weekly drawings, the books, AND....

The Toshiba Netbook !!!!

Coffee's inside. And cake...

Because how can you have a birthday without cake? I submit that you cannot!


Ruth Logan Herne likes to be called Ruthy, she's somewhat annoying but also endearing, she hides a big heart beneath a snarky shield and loves, loves, loves to write beautiful, embracing stories for Love Inspired books. Yuletide Hearts is her seventh (can you believe that???? REALLY????) published novel and will be followed by three more Men of Allegany County books in 2012/13. She's been married to a VERY PATIENT man for a long time, has six delightful children and a daughter of her heart, amazing daycare moms who make things happen all the time, and is surrounded by children, dogs, cats, chickens and one very famous rooster. She thinks Seekerville rocks the big kahuna (whatever that is) and loves that the village now offers mainland repose for all kinds of things... Because change is good! ;)