Andrea and I are at New Age.

This week I was working in freezing cold New York City, and when the weekend came, my friend Andrea Nierenberg and I went up to the Catskills to the New Age Health Spa.

It was a yoga weekend, and it was calming and good to be in a place we’ve visited dozens of times. Andrea spoke about Time Management and Reducing Stress. I learned so much as she spoke about planning each day, on the night before (and saving time. She also brushes her teeth and does her squat exercises at the same time.

She also managed to help a dermatologist we met there to meet up with the person who books the speakers. The doctor really wants to practice his magic tricks, and so he was delighted. You can visit Andrea’s blog: http://thenierenblog.typepad.com

We ate fresh salads, and I dreamed of owning the place…and how I would market it so that people would flock there for a great get-away from New York. I considered their lack of a real Brand, and how I would create a waiting list for groups to use it as an off-site place for meetings. The database would build and there’d be a great loyalty program for the guests. As I dreamed about all this, I wondered about all the crowds. Would there be room for us?

I think I like New Age Health Spa the way it is. It is a good place to get together with my good friend, now that we live far away from each other. It’s a place to catch up on our stories and smell the fresh cool air in the mountains. It is a good place to escape marketing too.

In 2007, the stock market was about 14,000 and today it was at 6763. Who would have thought this could happen?

I’ve worked so hard for that money too, often holding two or three jobs: my daytime job as head of my marketing agency, my passion job of teaching people about marketing, and my other job…writing about marketing. Come to think of it, I’ve probably been a marketing bore. But, I made that money off the sweat of my brow, and now it is gone, Kaput!

So now where do I find the joy?

Well, I find my real joy in my friends, Andrea Nierenberg, Pepper Huff, Donald Sexauer, Mike McCormick, the funny Amy Africa and a host of others. Here are some of them:

Andrea and I going to dinner in Aventura.

Donald and Pepper at the Pepper Mill

Then, of course, I have my family (small as it is now)..my coursin Barry, his wife Fran, Lizzie and Scott, Judy and Mitch and their kids. For all of you who know my great sadness, my cousins are life savers for me. We check in, care about each other and giggle about family stories. They give me joy.

Morty is on the left, and the elusive Lucy is ready to run.

There are also my pets. There’s the great old fat cat Mortimer and Baby Lucy (we call her the phantom of the apartment). No one sees here unless she wishes to be seen. At night, when I’m stressed, I play “rub a tummy with her”, and all is right with the world.

I also enjoy where I’m living now, right smack dab on the water in S. Florida. I look out at the ocean, and remember what it felt like as a child walking to the boardwalk in Long Beach. It is beautiful and the sun shines here all the time. I don’t miss all my years in New York City, as I was always freezing there and cocooning in my apartment. Here, I get outside alot, and have good friends and neighbors in the building. I like the feeling of community.

And, then of course, there’s my work. My parents were always feeling sorry for me, because I had to work so hard. First, it was to support my family, then as a single mother, and then supporting my parents. My Dad was always so sad that I wasn’t like the other women who just got married, and went to the club for lunches and shopping and had time for days at the beauty parlor.

My Dad or Mom never understood that I needed my work, more than they needed the money I earned. On the days that I was home with the flu, I was miserable. I love what I do. We have wonderful clients here at my agency and they are my personal friends. They’re smart and every day they challenge me to do something great or interesting or just fun for their customers.

And, I get a chance ot speak at conventions and conferences and meet new people all the time. It is a great privilege for me to teach people all the wonderful things I’ve learned about marketing. In fact, I think maybe I was born with ADD, and no one diagnosed it, and if I’d had any other kind of work…I’d have been bored.

So, don’t get me wrong. I hate this market dropping, and the economy tanking and people losing their jobs.

I just think that when I look around me, I have great joy. I love our country, our optimism, our freedoms and the wonderful life I have here.I believe that God will help us through our problems.

Of course, I love the great Joy of Marketing too.