People and other Princesses

I am something of a voyeur, and I guess an eavesdropper (ecouteur - is that a thing?).  I collect bits of conversation I hear in my life, I make up stories and relationships for strangers I see when I'm out and about.

Sunday, I was at Trader Joe's, and there was a little girl, maybe 4 years old, and she was wearing an Elsa princess costume.  And she was happy as a clam, floating through the crowded aisles on a cloud of filmy blue tulle. 



Do you want to buy some hummus?

Her mother seemed a little frazzled trying to keep her in sight, but was otherwise unremarkable.  She was wearing a navy skirt and white top - she was not dressed as a queen.

As I'm in the dry goods aisle, I pass Ersatz Elsa and Mom for the umpteenth time (like you do at Trader Joe's) and I hear a little boy, same age as Elsa, remark that she is dressed in her princess attire.  The father agrees, yes, she sure is.  I don't hear the next thing the little boy says, but his father replies, "Well, different parents make different choices".  From that I infer he asked why she could wear her garb, but he couldn't wear his Hulk suit (or whatever).  And I thought to myself, "Really, pal?  That's the hill you're going to die on?  Forbidding your kid to go to Trader Joe's as the Incredible Hulk?"

But, that's what was up.  I thought about it - nobody really wants parenting advice from middle-aged women without children.  So I just filed the conversation away.  As I was driving home, I considered it, and I decided that if I'd had children, I'd let them wear whatever they wanted.  Much like my mother did with me.  I hated jeans.  Hated them with a passion from the time I was in Kindergarten til about the start of 5th grade, I wanted dresses and skirts.   And so, my mother obliged me.  And her friends all sighed about how they couldn't force their daughters into dresses, and she sighed that she couldn't get me into jeans.   I finally started wearing pants on the regular in 5th grade/middle school, although, I had one outfit in sixth grade that I loved so much - a skirt and sweater combo - that I wore it constantly.  I mean, several times a week.  And it was not an inconspicuous outfit, but I just adored it.  Red sweater skirt and a royal blue sweater top with geometric shapes on it in red, white and yellow.  It was...something.

This would be its cousin.

I look back at all of Middle School, and I cringe.  I have one outfit that I can recall wearing that looked good.  It was a dress.  Esprit.  Drop waist, buttons up the front.  The collar tied into, not a bow, but a floppy knot that looked amazing.  It always laid perfectly.  It was knee length, rayon - navy blue with tiny white stars.  I loved that dress.  It was one of my favorite pieces of clothing I ever owned.

I also had a hot pink dress from Pier 1 that I wore with teal flats.

Look, the late 80s were fraught.  We had shoulder pads and acid wash to deal with.  To say nothing of all the terrible things we did to our hair - crimping, rod rollers, claw bangs, sun-in.  At that time, I was wearing my hair short and curly, so I just looked ridiculous on my own terms.  It was fine.  FINE.

All of this to say, my parents pretty well let us dress like we wanted.  And we did just fine - we are productive members of society.

With my luck, my kid would want to wear camo, wouldn't like bright colors and wouldn't want to dress up on Halloween.

Moving on.

We all know that I am not that invested in fashion to belabor it.

Today is Flu Shot day.  It also means it's biometric screening day - wherein I have to get weighed, blood pressured and finger pricked for the sugars, and the cholesterols.  I am definitely bigger than I was a year ago.  Whether that affects my remaining stats remains to be seen.  The bad news, and believe me, it's bad - is that I have to fast til noon.

I mean, OK - there are totally worse things.  I honestly find it easy to eat less if I start later in the day, so this may be to my benefit.  But if I do this exam, it potentially saves me money on my insurance.  Worth it,  plus FLU SHOT.

Anyway.  That's the latest from here.  Go be a princess and make it a great day!

ae

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