"Aren't We Lucky?"

When I worked in Dallas, TX at the Sanger Harris department store, there was a woman there named Eleanor.  Eleanor was a "good ol' party girl" whose mirror only reflected a high school cheerleader from a very long time ago.  This widow with grown children sported a curly blonde wig, false eyelashes over bright blue eyeshadow, the blackest liquid eyeliner known to womankind, pale frosted peach lipstick, a deep tan, a push-up bra under a scoop-neck sweater with a silk scarf tied around her neck.  She was our own Blanche DuBois.  This was a lot to take in, even in the early 1980's, but Eleanor knew how to work it.

She had to be in her late 60's, but that didn't stop her from being the comsumate flirt.  She sold men's furnishings. When she had a male customer of any age, she knew exactly when to lead forward on the counter, or bendover to pick a tie she had "accidentally" dropped.  She also knew how to speak very softly to these gentlemen so that they had to lean in to hear her.  She was one of the store's leading sales associates.  If the gentleman was near her own age, she was often invited to join him for a cocktail and perhaps dinner after her shift.  She was amazing!  Tennessee Williams should have met her!

The thing that made Eleanor so amazing was her attitude.  She put herself together in a way she (and a LOT of men) thought was appealing.  There was no reason on earth to look or act old if you didn't have to.  Anytime she was confronted with adversity, a car accident, a burglary, she would say, "Aren't we lucky?"  When she was diagnosed with cancer, she said it had been found in time for surgery to remove it completely and her response was, "Aren't we lucky?"  She never dwelt on anything that she lost, she simply considered herself lucky to have survived it.  She left the unpleasantness behind, and moved on.

She may have had more "gentleman callers" than a country dog has fleas, but what makes her legendary in my mind is that she was always kind, always soft and comfortable to work with, and she had a delightful spirit.  When I think of her I think always think, "aren't we lucky" she came our way.