With characteristic lack of foresight, I chose to wear a swirly whirly twirly dress yesterday, just as the wind was getting up and the chances of flashing my granny pants increased...
Well might I look a little sheepish.
I don't think I was too embarrassing, a bit of billowing about the nether portions never hurt anyone, did it?
This is another easy (breezy...) dress which I wear a lot.
I usually pair it with a cardigan to pull in the silhouette, but this time I layered it over a blouse.
This photo demonstrates why I usually streamline the dress with something fitted over the top; it has rather an old-school maternity smock look about it. Not sure that's a look I want. You know, being as I'm not pregnant.
Equally, there is something slightly schoolgirlish about it too.
A soon-to-be-49 year old pregnant schoolgirl.
Funnily enough, the dress and the ruffles of the blouse underneath called to mind this photo - me in 1971, aged 7.
1970s Lerose maxi dress - Ebay
Sheer blouse - jumble sale
Denim jacket, sunglasses, shoes and bangles - charity shopped
Pendant - gift from Vanessa
I was overjoyed to receive this 1960-70s Lord Python Sheffield-made stainless
steel pendant, a gift from darling Vanessa of
Two Squirrels Vintage. She found it in her jewellery collection and felt it should return to its
city of origin, so she sent it back to live with me!
Thank you, Miss V - I love it!
Look, a breezy, over-exposed outtake.
Never mind the answer, my friends - the washing, my dress, my hair and the cherry blossom are blowing in the wind.
So while I am considering friendship, women, kindness, schoolgirls and childhood in this post, can I also bend your collective ear for a moment?
I don't write all that much about my kids on this blog. Sure, they do feature on it but really, it's supposed to be all about
me round here. Oh, they pop up from time to time, passing references and photos, we do live together and hang out, and they're pretty much central to my life.
But I never had any interest in being a Mummy blogger.
Those teeth-achingly saccharine accounts of the achievements, cuteness and oh-so-hilarious doings of someone else's offspring... Nah, not for me. The stories and comments I share about my kids are more likely to be of the
bloody hell, they're driving me bonkers, the little buggers variety.
I don't always find my children fascinating, so why should you?
But please bear with me while I tell you something about my Eldest.
Our personalities are very similar in many ways, hence we butt heads from time to time. We are both stubborn, pedantic, think we are always right, and like the last word.
But just recently, I have realised that for all our shared traits, we are also very different.
She's better than me.
She's less judgmental, more tolerant, more forgiving.
She doesn't bear grudges (I am an Olympic-standard grudge bearer.)
She's calmer in the face of the bad behaviour of others.
She doesn't make a
fuss.
Dammit, she's a better grown-up than I am, and I am both astonished and proud.
Really proud.
She's got chocolate cake mixture on her face here. Bloody hell, she even makes better chocolate muffins than I do.
Most of us know how mean girls can be - at 11, or any other age. How is it that girls/women can develop and sustain the most wonderfully supportive relationships, yet at other times treat each other with such unkindness?
Eldest has had a tricky time lately, due to a friend being mean to her. Mean, manipulative, controlling, unkind, and rude. These are not the characteristics of a friend in my book. But after a mum-to-mum conversation (I had to, the behaviour was too bad to overlook and leave unchallenged) and some discussion, she decided to forgive her friend, and carry on as normal. No judgment, no grudge, no payback, no fuss.
I couldn't do that. She's nicer than I am.
So I am contemplating what I can learn from my girl, and what we can tell each other about friendship. We'd both love to hear your thoughts and experiences, either from your own childhood/adolescence, or from a parent's perspective.
I'll stop now.
Thanks for listening.
My next post will be
all about secondhand shopping and frocks, I promise!
xxxxx
