Once upon a time, many years ago, I was shopping with my mother. Mom has always had such an incredible sense of style - wears everything well. I, on the other hand, have often felt like I was just a little bit late with the style, not quite shaped right, too short, too thin (or now, too fluffy). Whenever Mom picked something out for me, it was usually a wonderfully chosen outfit - just the right color, style, everything. Except this one time...
We were shopping at Sears. Mom pulled this two piece outfit - shirt and pants - off the rack and showed it to me. I distinctly remember saying, "Ugh! I can't imagine wearing something like that!" The basic color was black with an orange-gold pattern in it. What made it so strange and abhorrent to me was that both the pants and shirt, in a soft cotton, were in the same colors, but the pants had a kind of circle print and the shirt had half of it in the circle print and the other half in some kind of paisley-shaped print. (Keep in mind this was in the 80's.) Really strange looking! Mom hung it back on the rack and we went on.
Move ahead to Christmas - that particular year, I got really ill on Christmas Day and spent most of the day lolling on the sofa while we opened gifts - the family was pretty large, and gift-opening took a huge part of the day, since we opened our gifts one at a time, in age order from youngest to oldest. When the time came for me to open my gift from my Mom, I struggled to sit upright, opened the box, and pulled out "THAT OUTFIT!" I was already sick and I honestly thought I would cry when I saw it. I managed to avoid throwing up, and thanked Mom for the gift, then laid my head back down and made it through the rest of the day. I regret there are no photos of that infamous outfit!
I know - I was supposed to write about an outfit I loved wearing...here's the rest of the story.
Because Mom gave me the outfit, and because I was taught not to waste things, I decided to be brave and wear it one day. I put it on, knowing I was probably going to get a lot of stares, if not negative comments about what I was wearing. When I looked in the mirror, I was
13 comments:
Loved reading about this Linda. I can't remember anything like this...but I do remember one time, during school, I convinced my mom that I should wear my Sunday Church dress...pink lace taffeta skirt and a black velvet bodice with pink lace trim....it was school picture day....she let me wear it, but at recess I fell off the swing...right into a muddy puddle! I was devastated, and scared that mom would be furious. Even told the teacher on playground duty my "mom will kill me". To make a long story short, they called mom. I obviously wasn't killed.
Loved reading your post...made me think about the good ol' days.
By the way.......glad you didn't upchuck all over the orange and black...."Thing". LOL
Wow - guess this is just more proof that "Mom knows best"! Glad you gave the outfit a chance - and that it became your favorite!
Very sweet Linda. Funny too!
this was too cool! i can only imagine what it looked like!
Proving once again, mothers just know these things!
Sometimes an outfit can look so ordinary on the hanger, you just have to try it on. You're Mum really did have you pegged Linda, you should've trusted her haha! I had so many fav outfits and they were all ones Mum made me, I sometimes wonder where they are now.
I loved that story--sometimes moms do know best :)
Wow sis! I totally remember that Christmas, but I don't recall the outfit. I must have thought it was pretty - because mom passed down savvy sense of style to me (ha - NOT!). When I first started reading this, I thought it was going to be similar to my story about "the outfit" that mom bought for me - my first pair of jeans! Who would have thought that a young girl would ever cry at the thought of having to wear jeans, but in my mind those were "boy clothes" and well, boys were icky (as you well know!). Mom, I know you are reading this and I just want you to know that I forgive you for buying me the boy clothes (love you mom)! And sis, while I probably don't have any pictures of you in what became your favorite outfit, I'm sure I could dig up some pretty fabulous pictures of you donning some stunning '80s fashions if you want! :-)
This one too! I must have gotten lost after I clicked over to your photo blog :) Mom's surprise us now and then! Great story Linda for the prompt!
What a GREAT story Linda. I have a few similar stories with my Mom and I look back at them now and realize Mom really DID know best! I'm glad I had a chance to tell her that before she passed away even if I couldn't bring myself to tell her at the time she insisted on buying certain outfits for me! LOL
Pam
Your mom is clearly one of those people who amaze me - the ones who can envision what clothes look like one someone. I can only see them on the rack, and have no imagination. I think it's a real gift!
So this is about Princess Jennifer and her dislike of "boys clothes"! She would ONLY wear long dresses and gave me such a struggle with school clothes that I finally, in desperation, enrolled her in private school where she had to wear uniforms. She then had no choice, even then she looked adorable in her little plaid jumper, white blouse and knee socks.She is still adorable in whatever she wears.
That's right mom - and I really wish my kids wore uniforms too. I was just saying the other day that I loved my uniforms (well, not the pants, of course, but the plaid jumpers and skirts were cute)! And for the record, I wear my jeans now, but not all that often still. :-)
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