My first duty this month is to apologize to one of Prime’s salesperson’s Paula Dimauro, for the misspelling of her name in my December Editor’s Note.
This was especially embarrassing for a number of reasons – first, none of us here caught the error – it was her mother who pointed it out – and second, Paula and I have worked together for a long time, going back to when we both had jobs at Steiger’s department store in downtown Springfield. It was the 1980s – and back then she was in the store office, and I was a copywriter in the advertising department. So Reminder Publishing is our second work life together, meaning I should have really caught the fact that her name wasn’t spelled correctly.
My second apology is to Mrs. Dimauro – along with my thanks for being such a loyal reader!
But I’m not done .... I also owe another sales person, Matt Mahaney, and my journalistic co-worker Jordan Houston, similar apologies. We seem to have a computer gremlin that changed the spelling of their last names in last month’s Note as well, and no one caught the error until well past press time. Not a great way to end the year!
But this is January, a fresh start, and I have to admit I had a great time researching this month’s feature on the health and social benefits of playing billiards. My thanks to all the players who shared their stories of how they came to the game, and what billiards has given them in return. I have to admit, up until this story I’d always looked at billiards as a guy’s game – my husband and son rack ‘em up and play a few games now and then in our basement – but after talking to the women who have made the sport their own at Senior Centers around the area, I’m thinking I should probably pick up a cue stick and try my hand at a few shots rather than just sit on the sidelines and watch.
So many of the women I interviewed – Corinne Person from Agawam, Carla Roberts from Ludlow and especially Mary Cecile Ryurkiwski of Chicopee who, at 84, said billiards keeps her going now that her aerobics and line dancing days are over – sang the praises of the game for keeping them active, engaged, and sharp.
“You have to have a purpose in life and a reason to keep going,” Ryurkiwski said, and she included her weekly billiards games with her girlfriend as one of those purposes.
So if you haven’t tried your had at this more-than-just-a-game sport, let me suggest you stop by the billiards area of your local Center.
My bet is you’ll find a friendly group of people who will be happy to teach you everything you need to know.
However you choose to spend this first month of the year, resolve to make the most of it!
Debbie Gardner
debbieg@thereminder.com
