© Jeanne E Webster

Life is an ever-changing kaleidoscope, and for most of us women our first colorful formatting began months before birth.  That phase was the preparation of a cute little nursery containing a changing-table. We don’t remember but have seen photos and heard stories about that table.  It was loaded with all the “gotta haves”: drawers stuffed with wash cloths, receiving blankets, undershirts, nightgowns, bibs and tons of diapers.   The top was the cleanup and/or changing area, cluttered with jars of baby oil, baby powder, wipes, cotton swabs, baby lotion and the tiny comb and brush. 

Quickly outgrowing that scene, we shifted into the bright “I’m Mommy’s big girl now” table, strewn with Barbie dolls, stuffed dolls, dolls that walked & talked, dancing dolls, crying dolls, doll clothes of every sort and color, crayons and colored pencils, paper doll cut-outs, coloring books, little reading books and an oversized doll house for little people in-residence. 

Having held a “bye bye” rummage sale for our doll collection, we splished and splashed into teen hood  with a vanity table, full mirror, racks of lipsticks, drawers of powder makeup, liquid makeup, mascara of sexy black shades, jars of Noxzema face cream and acne preparations, perfumes, the latest deodorants, photos of boyfriends taped on the glass sealed with a kiss of the reddest lipstick we could find, a hand mirror with a flip zoom lens to get those close-up shots of the back of our fancy hairdos, and the ever present bobby pins and hair clips to control the stray unmanageable hairs.

A few years after high school graduation, the sparkling vanity table lost its luster due to the addition of a brilliant husband and vibrant children. We parted easily with the radiating frills of yesteryear to concentrate on family.  The table now spun a different scene, and the old photos were long gone along with the acne preps.  Maybe the two were connected in some way?  Hair curlers, perm rods, scarves and lots of hair products played their parts now:  sprays, softeners, firmers, high lighters and ultra controllers. 

The middle-age vanity table made its entrance years later with a slowing down of the sparkling revolutions.  Crisp, clean crocheted table scarves and miniature lamps with smokestack looking shades replaced the “shake rattle and roll” scene.   A tabletop makeup mirror was added to enable the user to repair damaged areas due to the aging process.  Makeup flavors were fewer now; we were done with the experimental stages and settled in with our favorites.  Less time was spent sitting in front of the table as we became  enraptured with soap operas, chatting with friends on the phone, or playing “spin the bottle” with the garden jewels.  What a ride we had had; what brilliant, beautiful scenes of life we experienced.

Where did the pretty lights go?  One day we waken to a small bedside table, holding a glass of water, 6 bottles of prescription medicines, two or three cough drops, a cell phone, a TV remote, a small flashlight and one of the old miniature vanity table lamps.  My, how time has changed things!  To Life!