A ROOM OF OUR OWN

...AT best, the days ahead are going to be difficult for all of us, but I am convinced that we shall be happier and more effective if we can assess our values and place them in perspective rather than doggedly driving ourselves always along the main channel looking to neither right nor left...

...Phil can never understand, for instance, why a housewife resents the family looking askance at new recipes...

...The people who know how to spice up the routine of life with "special oh-ccasions" as our nine-year-old Sherry calls them, have an invaluable prescription against boredom and monotony...

...she gasped, "But we must be fair to ourselves...

...Why do I buy that brand of powder when Mary Sheridan and other debunkers tell me I can get just as good qualities at a fraction of the price...

...To ease the almost intolerable strain of anxiety which has gripped most of us, we have sought release in various ways...

...I was at the end of my rope and shook my head vigorously...

...Of course she wants to please her customers, but at the same time she yearns for a bit of variety in her labors...

...Heavens, I can't remember—a box lasts me four or five years," I replied, meanwhile realizing the boner I was pulling with the unvarnished truth...

...When I learned to relax and take it in my stride, everything was fine...

...On the other hand, as we try to instill in our children, to lead useful happy lives it is essential that we maintain a sense of proportion or perspective between work and play, between essentials and luxuries., I have felt that wartime living has for most of us thrown this proportion badly off-balance...

...Others, deprived of the stabilizing effect of their husbands' companionship, shower too much attention on the children and spoil them within an inch of their lives, thus giving them the worst possible preparation with which to meet life...

...The old adage, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," still holds...

...Yet in patronizing that type of house I support the ridiculous goings-on like the one related above...

...THE Petunia representative was the first to recover and instead of saying, as well she might, "You certainly look it...

...It has been sadly overworked, of course, like the ad for a girdle which told the tragic tale of the wife whose figure was not adequately controlled when her husband came home on furlough...

...This was the parting shot and I remarked firmly, "Listen, the time may come, which I doubt, that I owe myself hours on my skin, but at the moment I have just finished the washing and mangling and must get home to do the hand ironing...

...Still, I pursued the thought, the psychology of this "You owe it to yourself" approach is certainly smart...

...No matter what our circumstances, the war furnished an impelling incentive to break through the ordinary routine of most of us...

...You owe it to yourself to look your most radiant...

...Young mothers drag their children from one end of the country to the other to live in most miserable circumstances just to be with their husbands until the last minute, although wisdom might point out, as their faces often show, that the fondest of affections are sadly strained under such conditions...

...Hurriedly asking for a brand I have used for the past 20 years, I was stopped by the clerk's question, "What shade, please...

...The gals looked shocked and horrified when I went even further and hurled the challenge, "I don't use any kind of cream or lotions—just plain soap and water...

...Disapprovingly the girl announced, "Fortunately our Petunia representative is with us today and she will diagnose your skin...

...On the way home I tried to analyze this "You owe it to yourself" line...

...Pushing ourselves won't do it...

...But basically almost all of us have our pet weaknesses or extravagances which are appealed to by the luxury trade, and there are apparently enough of us to keep them thriving...

...Torn between irritation and laughter, I found myself under the brilliant professional smile of the beauty doctor who gazed penetratingly at my leathery skin and then ran a glittering red talon over a box of various shades of powder until she found "just the thing...

...Oh, of course," I replied hastily, lying through my teeth but feeling that any measure was justified to shut off the ordeal...

...can only keep a bridge between the ages on the basis that life can be fun as well as work...

...The hobby, which has been so encouraged for all ages and in all walks of life, is nothing more than a thou-sand-and-one ways of relieving monotonous routine...

...To my suppressed joy, the lofty "beauty" culturer struck a snag when she breezily waved the cle the order, because, as usual they were "out of it—we're expecting an order any minute...

...But thank you, just the same...

...AS a matter of fact, a certain amount of humoring ourselves along this line seems to me an invaluable pick-up along the hum-drum of daily existence...

...The release from that terrible strain has left many of us punch-drunk, and I think it will take some time for us to re-establish our perspective...

...Those of us who work with young people (and who doesn't in one way or another...

...With alternate gazes at me and the sample box, the gals continued their consultation and when they arrived at another diagnosis the clerk went back to her shelves while the expert remarked, "Of course you use our Petunia Perfume and other products...

...As our 16-year-old Judy put it in describing her experiences as a checker in the cherry-harvesting, "I was so anxious to make good at the job that I pushed too hard...

...Although I trust that we do not underestimate the problems that remain, still everyone with whom I talk says they can still scarcely believe that the killing is over...

...Plenty has been said and written about the men who as a result of the unnatural life of the services, begin to idealize home and family, which in turn must be taken down to proper perspective upon their return...

...Finally when they had brought together as closely as possible the "demands of your skin" and the offerings on the shelves, the Petunia Representative again smiled brightly and asked, "Of course you use our Lemon Skin Food and Overnight Mask...

...I haven't succumbed to the Lemon Skin Food nor the Overnight Mask as yet, but am definitely touched and flattered at the children's concern and interest in the external aspects of "a woman of your age," and shall at least try to keep an open mind on what I "owe myself...

...Probably I am influenced by the glamorous ads in the periodicals, but of course I humor myself into believing that I like that particular odor, etc...