What's new with you? An old friend and I encountered each other in the village recently and stopped to compare notes on our early morning ramblings, photo ops, reading materials and more mundane activities.Never mind the fact that my friend and I were clad in our oldest jeans and banged up Doc Martens (mine are purple) and that the Dagoli sweatshirts peeking out from under our coat collars were paper thin and about to come apart completely - we were comfortable and very relaxed as we stood in our local organic market and traded notes on our adventures.
Most of the younger females shopping were "done up to the nines" and well dressed, many wearing heels, hair styled and faces tastefully anointed with cosmetics. For the most part, they gave us a wide berth as they shopped, and perplexed looks too - two older women, dressed easy and carrying tote bags full of rapini, kale and fingerling potatoes, a pair of females tattered in their mode of dress, but with fierce, independent and (hopefully) compelling written all over them.
Was it our age, our clothing or the contents of our tote bags? Walking home together, we laughed and decided that their reactions had nothing to do with our sense of fashion, with our looking "over the hill" or as fresh and dewy and new as a November sunrise. We may have seemed intimidating, and simply because we didn't fit into modern expectations of how two older women ought to look and act.
It may have been the peace symbol and the lotus on the back of my battered jean jacket, or it may have been the embroidered patch on Hannah's which read, "I'd rather be riding my Harley." A lovely thing to be thought scandalous at this time in one's life....
Written for the lovely mamas at Mama says Om.
10 singing pebbles:
What a delightful perspective! I had not really thought of being scandalous although at this age it has some appeal. I have always wanted to be unique - the worst thing someone could tell me is that I am normal or average. Cheers for scandalous (especially when you are so young)
Different can sometimes be delicious:)
LOL ~ that was great Cate!
peace & shakin' the tree,
Lil
Fortunately, it's no longer as difficult to be scandalous as it once was. I don't miss much from my younger days, I am occasionally nostalgic for some of my more outrageous footwear.
And I may get a tattoo yet ...
As they say in Australia, "Good on ya," Cate!
Isn't it lovely to let go of any worry we might have once had about strangers' opinions of us?
I found myself holding my breath while reading your posts.
I too have recently given up my corporate job. I feel myself turning around and around, trying to make sense of my world so that I can settle down. Reading about your adventures makes me feel more at peace.
I may sometimes be casual and/or better dressed when I go out. I guess I am just a little schizophrenic in my wardrobe. That is sort of scandalous in itself, isn't it?
Living in Oregon where there are a lot of people walking to their own drummer, what you describe is pretty commonplace; so to be scandalous, I'd have to dress up in heels and have my hair done to the nines... the price is too high :)
I think we older women are finally coming into a time when we can be easy with ourselves. And if people find us scandalous, then what a lovely frisson of pleasure that gives.
I think those youngsters might have been a bit envious too.
Post a Comment