Is the Dress Greener on the Other Side?
Hi there!
The Spirit of Christmas Past has commanded that I look back and remember all the travails and troubles I have had with my dearest Mom.
My mother probably welcomed me into this world with very high hopes of having all the joys only a daughter could bring. She could help around the house! She could play with dolls! She could be dressed up! And when she grew up, they could go shopping together! Perfect harmony that nobody else could achieve!
And that's where everything went bad. Sure I loved my dolls, and used to (note the tense. It was the past. And it was tense. Pardon the pun) to help around the house. And yes when I was little I submitted to my mom's (and her sisters') whims and fancies. But then I grew up, and realized I was cold in all those frocks all the time. So I ended up wearing loose baggy pajamas while going out to play. And I guess that should have been a red herring if there ever was any. My mom let me roam around with my trademark sweater and loose baggy pants with the prettiest of frocks around the house. However she still made sure I wore the correct stuff while going out. Woe betide me if I ever dared venture out with a muddy face, and equally muddy dress outside!
Then I grew up further, abandoning my dolls, and sticking to novels. I liked spending time inside now. And my mom let that go too, trusting I would outgrow this weird phase. Alas! How wrong was she?! She also loved making me wear anything a size bigger so that it wouldn't make me feel uncomfortable. Whatever that meant. So the whole one or two sizes bigger thing stuck , and you would find me in college wearing loose baggy pants and equally loose and baggy tee shirts. Or kurtas. And one fine day she yelled in exasperation at the utter horror that I had become. I was packed off to the nearest clothes store. And there she bought me around 5 sets of salwaar kameez material. And that's how I ended owning my first adult pairs of shiny, new, fitting Ethnic wear. Oh boy, I think everyone who knew me - except me was thrilled by this change. Humph.
And the eternal struggle ofGood over Evil what would I wear began. I resisted really hard. Everything that she would choose, I would reject it outright. And whenever I would move towards my comforting Blacks, Blues and deep deep blacks, she would immediately shout me down and almost cry each time I bought more of the same thing. Slowly, I began to accept that maybe, just maybe I did not actually know what to buy, and maybe she had a point. Slowly, my wardrobe began to change. I started owning more colours, different articles of clothing I had to think about before wearing them blindly.
My sympathizers! Fear not! For I had found a way to bypass her choices after all! I would dress up and twirl around for her to see. Then I would wear my beloved coat, hoodie, jacket, shrug, cardigan, sweater what have you and promptly cover up all of that goodness. Both of us were happy! And still are.
Oh what? You thought there was going to be some other paragraph that said that me and my mom reconciled? No!!! This is the end. You will still find me trudging along like I wish I was invisible. You would see a black or navy blue hoodie. And you would never see the pretty stuff my mom loves to see me in. Although I would say I have improved a lot. (Improved according to my mom. This is blasphemy though!) I no longer cringe while wearing other colours. (Except for bright yellow and pink. Those are hard to love. Jarvis would disagree about the yellows though). I have worn various stuff without hoodies because we both liked them. I have also began learning the art of helping other people choose clothes.
P (Congratulations on the Engagement!!!) and I discuss about this a lot. The ongoing joke is that we should exchange our moms, because everything that my mom seems to want me to wear, P would love to oblige. In the heat of the moment, I sometimes think of just calling P to one of my mom's shopping excursions so that she feels the heat too :p
Actually it wouldn't be a bad idea! Let's see what would the Spirit of Christmas Present / Future say ;)
Until Next Time,
DragonRider
The Spirit of Christmas Past has commanded that I look back and remember all the travails and troubles I have had with my dearest Mom.
My mother probably welcomed me into this world with very high hopes of having all the joys only a daughter could bring. She could help around the house! She could play with dolls! She could be dressed up! And when she grew up, they could go shopping together! Perfect harmony that nobody else could achieve!
And that's where everything went bad. Sure I loved my dolls, and used to (note the tense. It was the past. And it was tense. Pardon the pun) to help around the house. And yes when I was little I submitted to my mom's (and her sisters') whims and fancies. But then I grew up, and realized I was cold in all those frocks all the time. So I ended up wearing loose baggy pajamas while going out to play. And I guess that should have been a red herring if there ever was any. My mom let me roam around with my trademark sweater and loose baggy pants with the prettiest of frocks around the house. However she still made sure I wore the correct stuff while going out. Woe betide me if I ever dared venture out with a muddy face, and equally muddy dress outside!
Then I grew up further, abandoning my dolls, and sticking to novels. I liked spending time inside now. And my mom let that go too, trusting I would outgrow this weird phase. Alas! How wrong was she?! She also loved making me wear anything a size bigger so that it wouldn't make me feel uncomfortable. Whatever that meant. So the whole one or two sizes bigger thing stuck , and you would find me in college wearing loose baggy pants and equally loose and baggy tee shirts. Or kurtas. And one fine day she yelled in exasperation at the utter horror that I had become. I was packed off to the nearest clothes store. And there she bought me around 5 sets of salwaar kameez material. And that's how I ended owning my first adult pairs of shiny, new, fitting Ethnic wear. Oh boy, I think everyone who knew me - except me was thrilled by this change. Humph.
And the eternal struggle of
My sympathizers! Fear not! For I had found a way to bypass her choices after all! I would dress up and twirl around for her to see. Then I would wear my beloved coat, hoodie, jacket, shrug, cardigan, sweater what have you and promptly cover up all of that goodness. Both of us were happy! And still are.
Oh what? You thought there was going to be some other paragraph that said that me and my mom reconciled? No!!! This is the end. You will still find me trudging along like I wish I was invisible. You would see a black or navy blue hoodie. And you would never see the pretty stuff my mom loves to see me in. Although I would say I have improved a lot. (Improved according to my mom. This is blasphemy though!) I no longer cringe while wearing other colours. (Except for bright yellow and pink. Those are hard to love. Jarvis would disagree about the yellows though). I have worn various stuff without hoodies because we both liked them. I have also began learning the art of helping other people choose clothes.
P (Congratulations on the Engagement!!!) and I discuss about this a lot. The ongoing joke is that we should exchange our moms, because everything that my mom seems to want me to wear, P would love to oblige. In the heat of the moment, I sometimes think of just calling P to one of my mom's shopping excursions so that she feels the heat too :p
Actually it wouldn't be a bad idea! Let's see what would the Spirit of Christmas Present / Future say ;)
Until Next Time,
DragonRider
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