Taking pictures in my mind of my children's smiles.

Of the bird landed on my chair, baking crumbs.

The Mockingbird song that breaks the morning stillness.

I am home sitting in my chair alone in the quiet.

I am reminded that life is short.

And today is a gift.

Hello and welcome, it is so great to see all of you this week.

I hope you had a wonderful week.

And it was very interesting that last video I did.

I got so many comments and I want to thank all of you that gave kind positive comments to one another.

It just shows you how divided we are in this country and in this world.

But anyway, I thought it was a very interesting topic and I really appreciate all of your comments.

And today because I have had so many assumptions that I was not able to get through the last video I did.

I thought it might be fun today to be just on a little lighter note.

To address some of the assumptions that everyone has sent in that you have about me.

I think I got close to 75 different assumptions about me.

So it would be very interesting to start covering them today.

And I have them all marked off here.

I was born under, oh what sign were you born under?

Well I was born under the sign of the rabbit.

But if I had my druthers, I probably would like to be born under the sign of a lioness.

Because she's strong and loving and protects her family.

And I think I'm more of a lioness than I am a rabbit.

Because rabbits procreate and hop around from here to there and everywhere.

And I'm pretty much a steady person.

Okay, the next one is when did you let your hair grow gray and did you have trouble deciding to go natural?

Well actually I am allergic to hair dye.

And I had my hair dyed because I was blonde.

It was getting to be kind of a mousy color.

Losing all of its color.

So I thought well let's maybe go in.

I'll have some highlights put into it.

Darker highlights to give my hair a little bit of life.

So I went in. I had never had my hair dyed before.

And they didn't test me.

The technician didn't give me a patch test the way they're supposed to.

Well, I wound up with the worst allergic reaction.

I'm allergic to phenolphthalein diamine.

And it's in a lot of hair dyes.

But my face blew up.

And I had oozing blisters and sores all over my face.

It was so, so uncomfortable.

In order to get rid of that dye, I had to go back and they had to strip the color out of my hair completely.

At that point then, I was a platinum blonde.

But I felt I was too young to be platinum like that.

I didn't want to look older.

And I found a person who did herbal dyes.

And it was kind of a henna type dye.

So they dyed my hair with henna.

And I dyed my hair with henna until I was in my early 70s.

And the reason I quit dyeing my hair is because the henna wasn't grabbing the white hair that was underneath.

And I didn't know it was underneath.

So I was looking like Lucille Ball.

My hair was getting to be really, really orange.

And so I was more or less forced to let it go gray.

And when I found out what was under that henna, probably for quite a few years, I was pleasantly surprised.

It was quite a journey for me.

Going from a mousy, blonde, no color at all to allergic reactions to henna for quite a few years.

And then finally letting it grow out.

And what I did, I did then when my henna was orange.

And henna is really hard to get out of your hair.

I had my technician bleach my hair out and she cut it short so that a lot of the henna on my ends disappeared.

But I know it's very, very difficult to let your hair grow out.

But believe me, I think because our skin changes, everything changes as we get older.

And I really think from my perspective, and everybody doesn't have to do this, but for me, going natural was the best way because then my hair was more or less matching my complexion and how everything in my whole skin had changed because of the aging process.

Oh wow, that was a long answer.

I didn't mean it to be that long.

All right.

How long were you on TV with Romper Room?

I was on television with Romper Room probably for a total of three years.

Now, that doesn't seem like a very long time, but it was seemed like a long time because it was every single day, five days a week.

And I was lucky because my television station where I was doing Romper Room,

I got an offer to be an anchor person and have my own talk show.

So in a way it was a step up for me.

So I quit doing Romper Room with the blessings of the Claster family and I moved up to having my own talk show and being the nightly news anchor for a CBS affiliate.

And so that is the answer there.

But I loved every single minute I was on Romper Room.

I loved the children.

I enjoyed interacting with the parents.

And it was a very, very special time in my life.

It really was.

Okay.

The next assumption is, do you feel overwhelmed with your responsibility here on YouTube?

Sometimes I do, but I really, really enjoy it.

About three weeks ago or closer to a month ago,

I was contacted by a big advertising agency who is going to be producing a new television show for cable.

And they asked me if I would like to co-host the program.

I was completely honored and I thought about it for a while.

And then I realized at my age, I really would rather spend time on YouTube.

I would have probably have to have given up this channel.

And I really love all of you and I feel very comfortable here on YouTube.

And I just felt at my age, I didn't want to dedicate so much of my time working and being away from my family and then not enjoying the pleasures of being almost 86.

I turned down the offer and I don't regret it at all.

But as far as being overwhelmed with this, not really very much because I enjoy being with you.

I enjoy my community and I really like the interaction that I get with each and every one of you.

So I guess the answer is not really.

It was a long winded answer.

But anyway, when you were married to Arthur, did your future financial situation become more secure and less worry for you?

Of course it did.

I mean, I was very successful in my own right, but I still had three children and two incomes.

And a partner to share your life with is not only more comfortable, more satisfying, but also is financially easier on me.

It allowed me maybe to have more freedom to try to go into acting and to experiment and do other things because I didn't.

I had an umbrella.

Arthur always used to say that he was my umbrella.

So I had an umbrella.

So of course it really was a lot easier for me.

But each of us kept working and we both contributed to the household and our income.

I assume you are very spiritual.

Yes, I am.

I am very spiritual.

I believe in God.

I believe that he has been sitting on my shoulder and guiding me through all the ups and downs in life.

If I didn't have my faith to lean on, I probably could have floundered a lot in life.

But I honestly believe that whatever challenges we have in life, whether they're good or bad, they are given to us for a reason to help us grow or to help us move on to someplace else in our lives.

So the answer is yes.

I am spiritual and I do have a very strong faith that guides me every single day of my life.

Did you ever think about being a widow when you got married?

You know, I didn't.

Even though Arthur was 13 and almost 14 years older than I was at the time, I never really ever thought about being a widow.

It just didn't occur to me.

My parents were married and they were 10 years apart and they both died when they were 92 and my mother was single for 10 years.

But she seemed to just weather that transition in her life very well.

Therefore, I probably was never even thinking about what it would be like to live without my husband.

But I have to say, it's not an easy road.

But I don't think while you are married you can think about the what-ifs.

You just have to live every day and enjoy being together and not to let what-ifs enter into your life and maybe destroy that particular moment in the day.

I assume that you have three children, two sons and a daughter.

Well, I have two daughters and a son.

I have two daughters that are two and a half years apart and then I have a son that is my baby.

He was the last one and he is the one that is in the music business.

Are you ever wickedly lonely or maybe for five or ten minutes and then get over it?

I don't think I would say I am lonely but I grieve.

I grieve once in a while and it just comes out of the blue.

Maybe I'll be listening to a song on the radio or drinking a cup of coffee and just sitting and thinking.

Or something, I don't know, something happens to me that sets off a memory of Arthur.

And yes, I will grieve in waves.

It comes in waves even though he has passed now in November it would be two years.

I do grieve but it does pass and I get on with it because I do.

I know that I still have so much to do and I still have so many blessings in my life that I don't want to dwell on those things that kind of make me sad once in a while.

I don't shove them under the rug.

I acknowledge it and accept it but then I move on.

And I think that's probably what most of us do.

If you are a widow or if you've lost someone in your life, you know how it comes.

It comes in waves and then you pick yourself up and then you move on.

And another question is, how do you feel about America now?

Well, I have faith.

I really have faith that we are a strong country, we're a strong people and we can weather anything that is thrown to us.

And I do believe that it's going to be okay.

I really have to believe that it's going to be okay.

The next question is, and it's a very interesting one indeed.

It said, I assume you're a soft touch but you are a hard woman who wants her own way.

Wow, that's some assumption.

A soft touch, yes, maybe.

I am a Capricorn.

I'm usually kind, thinking about others.

I love my family.

But I believe that I'm not stubborn.

I am open to others' opinions and listening to others.

And probably the best thing I do is I listen to my own instinct when that voice is calling me.

But I really am open to others' opinions.

And then I'll just sit back and I will analyze it and see whether or not I have to change or whether or not I have to take that outside advice.

I always believe that we can't be closed off 100% from outside perspectives.

But in the end, it is you or it is me that has to make that final decision about whatever it is in your life that is happening.

Those are assumptions that I have been able to address today.

I find that they're very interesting.

When we see people and when I even talk to you here on YouTube and I hear your comments,

I just wonder about, you know, who is she?

And what is her life like?

And is she happy?

And I just wonder about all of us.

It's just the curiosity in life I think should never stop.

No matter how old or young we are, when you have curiosity about the other person, you open up your life to so, so many possibilities and so many friendships.

Thank you for joining me today for this assumption video.

I hope that you will have a wonderful week.

And of course, as I always say, do something for yourself today that's fantastic.

And if you feel that you're out there and you don't have any friends and that you are alone, please know that you are never alone because you have all of us and know that you are truly, truly loved.

Thank you and I hope to see you again in my next video next week.

Take care. See you soon.