MINDSET-MASTERS

Mindset Masters of feeling helpless, enveloped in an ever-­‐present reminder that all that stuff was collected in an effort to fill something inside of her that was missing, lost or never received. But growing up I had seen another side of her. As a child, I was given the amazing gift of witnessing her driving ambition and determination with a side of “I’m gonna’ do it, damn it” with no foot on the brake. Although her mind told her she may not be qualified or worthy in some way, she, like an actress on cue, would deliver. What a rush she would receive when the local musical theater company she volunteered with would give her a list of some of the most difficult props to find as Props Mistress and she would set out to deliver exactly what they had envisioned. Having been a real estate agent for many years, she knew the streets like the back of her hand. She could find anything. She also knew many people from helping them buy or sell their home. She was aware of the strange, curious things they had in their garages or sheds because she’d seen their properties extensively. If the theater asked her to find an authentic plow from 1905, she’d pick up the phone and call a past client she recalled had a collection of old, but valuable, things in their shed. Sure enough, after a few calls, she’d deliver the 1905 plow to the theater-­‐-­‐after borrowing the owner’s truck! If she couldn’t find the item, she’d make it. She’d made authentic outdoor market cheeses from the 1900’s so well that they looked like pieces from a historical museum. Then came the costume making. I was always the best dressed Halloween kid in my school with her custom, home sewn costumes, and had the most beautiful homemade and hand beaded gowns for 50