What it Means to be Smart
By SUSAN HALLER
For Smart
My mom looked slightly embarrassed as she uncovered her angel food cake at a recent family gathering.
Instead of being a glorious fluffy masterpiece, the center of the cake was sunken, prompting good-natured teasing about it being a “fallen angel food cake.”
She served it anyway topped with fresh strawberries and homemade whipped cream. There was one piece by the time we were all done gorging.
Rather than aiming for Stepford-wife perfection, my mom laughs at the misshapen cakes of her life, knowing that making a warm home is more important than having House Beautiful.
She picks her battles carefully.
In her house, there might be dinosaur stickers covering the legs of her coffee table — remnants of an era when six kids were running amuck. And every available surface is covered with papers and books from her ongoing pursuit of a master’s degree.
But she refuses to give in on her war against dust bunnies, and the windows are always sparkling clean.
She finds joy in her overflowing pots of petunias and geraniums. In the satisfied smiles of family and friends who have enjoyed a meal she cooked. In standing up for her colleagues and patients at the hospital where she works as a nurse.
She is a smart woman.
And here at Smart we’re all about smart people and smart ideas. We know you don’t have the time or energy to devote to living the perfect life, but we hope to give you ideas for how to make it better.
Smart is a new magazine for all you Central Pennsylvanians who want innovative and simple ways to make your lives easier. Our goal is to relay practical information about your home, family and yourself that you can use every day.
Need advice on how to lighten up your home décor for summer?
Don’t know the first thing to look for in a new mattress?
Looking for motivation to get in shape?
Get Smart.
And unlike any other magazines out there, Smart will be about you and your life in York County and the surrounding areas.
We won’t send you all the way to New York City to find the perfect summer fashion — we know you can find it right here.
We know that you have plenty of great ideas, too, so if you have Smart advice for anything from gardening to parenting to cooking to fashion, e-mail me at shaller@ydr.com or visit our Web site, www.smartmagpa.com.
And if you have any ideas for fluffing up a deflated angel food cake, please let me know — I’m sure my mom would appreciate the help.
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