do it now: Cecilia who?

I am told that one should not write a blog under a pseudonym (thank god for spell checker on that one!).  So, I suppose it is time to confess that I am, in fact, not Cecilia Smith and to reveal her true identity to you.

Cecilia Smith was a work colleague of my Grandmothers. They worked as telephone operators at Cable and Wireless, in London in the 1950's.

"Do it now" was Cecilia Smith's catch phrase and my Grandma adopted it, adding Cecilia's name to her version of it, for extra emphasis. 

As a kid I kind of liked Grandma's mysterious friend, and  I liked what she stood for. I imagined that Cecilia Smith was this perfect woman, she had all the boxes ticked and her life was like the well-conducted orchestra that featured on her completely unscratched collection of Perry Como records.

I saw Cecilia as this model 1950's woman, gliding through the Cable and Wireless offices in her twin set and pearls, with her BBC radio voice and perfect hair.  My grandmother, on the other hand, had a stammer when she started at C & W, not an easy thing to overcome as a telephone operator, but which I think was probably cured because of her "Cecilia Smith" determination!

So here they were in the 1950's, long before some jumped-up little advertising executive was paid gazillions of $'s to come up with the well known tag line of a certain sneaker company, (Nike's "just do it" campaign, if that was too cryptic for you!). My Grandma was telling her family to "do it now, Cecilia Smith" and applying it - not to going for a run or to the gym, but to menial tasks such as writing those dreaded thank you notes, or cleaning the toilet!

So here I am in 2009, still chanting Grandma's second hand mantra. Its okay saying it, but I still haven't quite adopted it and applied it to my life.

"If we take care of things immediately, we are prepared for every eventuality, we have clarity and organization"  and life is (apparently)  good, right?

Well,  something like that anyway......here's to Cecilia and here's to Grandma overcoming her stammer!

Comments

[jessica]

Your grand mother worked? She's more ahead of the game than we currently are.

When are you going to tell a few of your intimate friends that you're out here? It's worth it!

[cecilia smith]

Ha this is hilarious! Hi Alexis, like the narcisisstic wanker that I am, I was bored and googled myself and found your blog.

My name is Cecilia Smith and I am an Australian! Just loved the story about your Granny by the way, priceless, and really inspiring since I am the Queen of Procrastinators (in Australia at least). So I find myself as usual jammed between options, fraught with indecision once again and loathe to make a move. You know what? I'm gonna summon up all that Cecilia Smith power and "Do it now!". What exactly, I don't know yet, but it'll come to me. Ah well, must be time for a cuppa tea..
Cheers,

Cecilia

[Lexi]

Cecilia .. i was so excited to get your comment .... yes, I know, TWO months AGO.... but as you know, im a procrastinator so it took me this long to respond!
it never even occurred to me that there would be a real life Cecilia Smith out there who would actually find this blog. Long live narcissism and Google, I say! To be honest i just write this blog as a kind of journal (and have plenty of material that I haven't published!). I am transitioning in my life and the "Do It Now" stuff is a smoke-screen to a bigger item on my lifes "to do" list!
So great you found me and commented. I dont have a big following as you can see!
Stay in touch... do you have a blog?
Alexis