Hi everyone. Lately I’ve been seeing pictures of Lucille Ball all over the place. All I can say is, I Love Lucy. Although Lucy played a ditzy redhead, in life she was quite the contrary. She was the first woman in Hollywood to own a film studio, as well as being an actress, comedian, TV producer and a model. The first thing Lucy stated to me was ‘love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world. You have to make yourself a priority. The relationship you have with you is the most important one. Hey, if there is something you don’t like about yourself, change it; like the color of your hair. If it doesn’t work, change it, I did. My natural color was brown, shhhhh. I tried going blonde and then decided to go red to stand out. The red color really worked for me.’ She continued by saying, ‘once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead!’ ‘One of the things I learned the hard way was, it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. By keeping busy and making optimism a way of life, you can restore your faith in yourself. I would rather regret the things I’ve done, than regret the things I haven’t done. Don’t be afraid to try something new. If you don’t try, you will never know what you’re capable of. It may be a little scary, but you have to push yourself outside your comfort zone. I was blessed to bring laughter to so many, and it was more valuable than I realized. At an early age, I learned how to make people laugh. As I grew older, I took acting lessons and this helped me to become a comedian. This is where the red here comes in. I dyed my hair bright red to really get noticed. Speaking of laughter, if you’re wondering how I Love Lucy started, we decided that instead of divorce lawyers making money from our mistakes, we should be the ones profiting from them. It worked for us. One of the things I will always remember is working with The Three Stooges. They taught me something really important, I learned how to duck, to avoid getting hurt. More importantly, they were a big influence and helped with my career. One of the first roles I played in was -Three Little Pigskins. Next, I’d like to say, you’re ahead of the game if you’re able to recognize what makes you happy. It’s a helluva start! Happy is as happy does. I found true happiness by making others laugh. It was even deeper than that, it was very healing. As you travel through the journey called life, if you are happy with what you are doing, you can always find happiness. One of the happiest moments I had on TV, and I had so many, was being interviewed by Joan Rivers on the Late Show. She opens up by introducing me after speaking about Mrs. Reagan, the First Lady, That’s a tough act to follow. So I needed a comeback. I thought fast and had one by asking about her sex life, ha ha ha. What a memorable moment! I want to say that I never thought I was funny. I certainly didn’t think funny. I was a shy girl and sent home from drama school because of it. A lot happened between my childhood and adulthood, before I became that scatterbrained redhead that everyone grew to love. Once I became comfortable in my skin and had the audience’s attention, I didn’t want it to end. I guess all good things must come to an end, like my divorce from Desi Arnaz. He was the greatest love of my life. I always missed him, but never regretted our divorce. We had a great attraction for each other, but that wasn’t enough. We were so different. I felt, at times, like we were living a secret life. Life goes on, and so did mine. I returned to TV, purchased the film studio where I started in Hollywood, and remarried. You have to take the good with the bad. Learn from your mistakes. Things go wrong, people change; life goes on. Remember in life, all good things come hard, but wisdom is the hardest to come by. I am so happy people are still enjoying my shows. This is such a blessing. Love, Lucille Ball Views:]]>