What I learned from rereading Estée Lauder: A Success Story by Estée Lauder.
You never realize that you're making a memory at the moment something's actually happening.
Stranger still, the strongest memories are those you never dreamed would survive and would be inextricably linked to your future.
Momentous happenings can lie buried in the past, while tiny, needle sharp split seconds sometimes stay with you forever.
They happen in a moment, and they tug at your memory endlessly.
They live always just below your consciousness.
I remember the woman at the Florence Morris beauty salon where I had my first cosmetics concession.
She was thoughtless and cruel and will always remain that way in my mind.
Maybe she was a catalyst for good in the end.
Maybe I wouldn't have become Estee Lauder if it hadn't been for her.
At the moment, she was cast in my memory to last there forever.
I despised her.
Simply thinking about that incident brings back a twinge of pain.
She was having her hair combed and she was lovely.
I was very young and vulnerable and I loved beauty.
I felt I wanted to make contact with her in some small way.
What a beautiful blouse youre wearing.
I complimented her.
Its so elegant.
Do you mind if I ask where you bought it?
She smiled.