Loretta Laroche - Kick Up Your Heels...Before Youre Too Short To Wear Them: How to Live a Long, Healthy, Juicy Life

Kick Up

Your Heels...

Before You're

Too Short

to Wear Them

OTHER HAY HOUSE TITLES BY

LORETTA LAROCHE

The Best of Loretta LaRoche(4-CD set)

How to Be a Wild, Wise, and Witty Woman:

Making the Most Out of Life Before You Run Out of It
(4-CD set)

Life Is ShortWear Your Party Pants:

Ten Simple Truths That Lead to an Amazing Life

(available as a book, 2-CD set, and a DVD)

RelaxYou May Only Have a Few Minutes Left:

Using the Power of Humor to Overcome

Stress in Your Life and Work

(book; available February 2008)

Squeeze the Day: 365 Ways to Bring JOY

and JUICE into Your Life (book)

The Wise and Witty Stress Solution Kit

All of the above are available at your local bookstore,

or may be ordered by visiting:

Hay House USA: www.hayhouse.com

Hay House Australia: www.hayhouse.com.au

Hay House UK: www.hayhouse.co.uk

Hay House South Africa: www.hayhouse.co.za

Hay House India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Kick Up

Your Heels...
Before You're

Too Short

to Wear Them

How to Live a Long, Healthy, Juicy Life

Loretta LaRoche

HAY HOUSE, INC.

Carlsbad, California

London Sydney Johannesburg

Vancouver Hong Kong New Delhi

To my daughter, Laurie,

for her incredible courage,

grace, and dignity.

M y great-grandmother Conchetta Sabina is one of the role models for this book. She was a combination of Bette Midler, Rita Moreno, and Emeril: funny, lusty, and fiery! She lived with great passion and was filled with juice and joy. She loved to laugh, dance, and cook; she was spontaneous, compassionate, somewhat eccentric, incredibly irreverent, and open to having a good time. She also had a fantastic sense of humor.

My great-grandmother wore long, flowing dresses but never wore underwear. She probably figured out that if youre in an accident, your underwear isnt going to stay clean for long. When her first husband died, she remarried a man named Peppino, who was 21 years her junior. She always called him caro, or dear one. Peppino was a cobbler and a musician, and he gave Conchetta his handmade shoes and wrote love songs about her, which he lovingly played on his mandolin.

She died on her way to playing cards at the age of 95. She was juicy and knew how to kick up her heels. I was born shortly after her death and have often wondered if our souls crossed paths and my great-grandmothers energy latched on to me for another ride. My mother frequently remarked how similar we are. Conchettas nickname was zingara, a Sicilian slang word for gypsy. As a child, my mother always called me by that name and it felt very familiar.

My grandmother Francesca is role model number two. She was patient, caring, loving, and spiritual; she was also a great cook and an incredible martyr. It sometimes seemed as if suffering were her goal. Ive often told my audiences that she wore black just in case somebody died.

My mother, Laura, is my third inspirationfeisty, tenacious, bright, and funny. She has always loved to stir the pot. If there was anything brewing in the family, she could make one hell of a stew out of it.

These three Italian divas were my magnificent gene pool, and Im grateful to them for it... every single day.

When its over, I want to say: all my life I was

a bride married to amazement. I was the

bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

from When Death Comes, by Mary Oliver

W hen I reached my 60th birthday, I panicked at the thought that I had less time ahead of me than I had behind me. Of course, that could be debated by those who are seeing from the rear. On a brighter note, this realization enhanced my need to discover as much as I could about the aging processboth the negative and positive. Im fortunate to have had grandparents who lived long lives, and a mother whos now 96. If genetics are on my side, then Im in luck.

Like most people, I never really understood or believed that Id actually reach the same place my mother was many years ago. Not that I would want the alternative, which is not to be here at all. But when shed try to tell me how she felt about getting older, I dismissed her by saying, Oh, you have plenty of time. Shed counter with, Youll see. Well, she was right. I