Getting Older . Self-Esteem
Mutton Dressed as Lamb
On February 5, 2019 by Speranza
Many years ago now I was at a party with Some Other Parents and as the evening and wine progressed, one mother leaned in to me and nodded in the direction of the living room. There, a definitely attractive mum had decided to stand on a chair and dance in a manner usually associated with a pole. She was also singing in a Marilyn-infused whisper to whatever was playing at the time. (Alright, it was Meatloaf’s Paradise by the Dashboard Light, gack …) She was just on the cusp of that age where she could basically still get away with it, her body being firm, her hair artfully tousled and highlighted, full lips a shiny bubblegum pink.
But as the person next to me drily observed, “The guys are loving this – but if I stood on a chair? People would just laugh.”
And she was right.
Getting Older . History . Reading
Eleanor, gee I think you’re Swell!
On September 9, 2018 by Speranza
Not sure why, but I notice that my reading tastes have been rather mired in memoir of late: The Fish Ladder (Katharine Norbury); Drinking the Rain (Alix Kates Shulman); Are you Somebody (Nuala (O’Faolain); Leaving before the Rains come (Alexandra Fuller); and Hourglass:Time, Memory, Marriage Dani Shapiro) with just a brief recent hiatus into the new Julian Barnes, The Only Story. Barnes is one of my favorite writers although his talent and intellect always leave me feeling distinctly lacking.
Anyway, I have taken to jotting down vocabulary I am not familiar with from his books lest I am ever in attendance at a clever party with him. This will never happen – obviously – but I like to pretend, in case someone drops “atavistic” into the conversation or mentions their vast collection of embroidered “antimacassars.” (Which sounds painful but really isn’t …)
Gay Husbands . Getting Older . Grey Divorce . The General
Grey Divorce
On January 29, 2017 by Speranza
The General and I were having our usual Sunday morning coffee discussion group today (only 2 people permitted, dressing gowns required) and listening to a superb documentary about “grey divorce” which caused us to sit exchanging (sometimes worried glances) as women discussed either having to leave their partners of many decades or being left themselves, each terrifying for different reasons. Of course, for the person who leaves, that ‘terror’ is often closer to excitement: the beginning of something new and a totally fresh start sponged clean of predictability, routine and the other assorted shackles of family life.
Getting Older . Nostalgia . Public Library . Tales from the Public Library
In Praise of Older Women
On May 28, 2016 by Speranza I’ve always quite liked older people and I must say that usually, they quite like me as well; maybe it’s because I am an old soul myself or simply because when I address them I don’t use a slower, LOUDER, special voice and I also like to avoid cyclical conversations about weather, Sudoku, or
Getting Older . Thrifting
Goodwill Hunting
On February 8, 2016 by Speranza
I absolutely love getting a deal and since I am not independently wealthy I don’t enjoy idle, recreational clothes shopping because it rarely meets my own criteria of 1. finding exactly what I’ve already envisioned and 2. a good price.
I also don’t need yet another striped shirt that I will loathe by the time I get home (and that I actually knew in the store that I didn’t really care for) and worse still, that I paid too much for.
One of the things that I like best about myself lately is that this seldom, if ever happens now; I’ve bought too many items in my life because the assistant took a great deal of time with me and I felt badly or, I was desperately hungry and couldn’t face another fun-house changing room mirror.
Which is why many years ago, I became what is now widely known as a Thrift Shopper.