My Birthday Card from Kristin by mooningduck.comSo one of my best and dearest friends, Kristin, came to a dinner party for my 40th birthday a couple of nights ago...with the above birthday card in hand.
Now, Kristin knows that I've been in a bit of a muddle over this whole 40-year-old "thing"...or "funk" as I like to affectionately call it. She knows I'm super irked with my feelings on top of it all, but as irked as I may be, that they are my feelings and that I am going to swim around and get all pruney in them...at least just a little bit.
ANYWAY...She gave me this card, with this glammed out old lady on the front. Inside it says "Attitude is Everything" and then her note..."This is you in another 40...You Glamourpuss!" Which promptly elicited laughter.
No doubt this is Beloved's secret fear that I will indeed age with "flair" replete with an overabundance of hair mousse and rhinestones...and his fear is relatively well founded in past experience and a few little facts that he is certain about me.
1. I love, what we call at home, "Club Girl" hair. The more product the better. The bigger the better. The more dramatic the better. It has been said in the past, and I quote reasonably accurately "You need to pull that hair down a little! You're going in to Corporate America not Saturday Night Clubbing!!"...to my indignant sputters that it is *not* club hair, etc.
2. I love jewelry. Cheap, Middle Road, Expensive--it does not matter--and I like to pile it on with happy abandon. Yes, I do like to make sure it goes with what I have on...but where a little goes well, more goes better. I have walked to the tinkling of my own jewelry, and it delights me.
3. I love clothes. I try not to leave my closet doors open--it's just distressing to anyone peeking in. Jackets, blouses, dresses, and purses and purses and purses, along with drawers of scarves and many beautiful pairs of shoes. Yes...as in multiples of all of it. A total clothes horse. But I make no apologies...I am mostly a bargain shopper. Yes. Mostly...and--I might add--it's not like it's Chanel and Versace...I'm just saying.
4. I am the Accessory Queen. Why be plain?? I love colors and textures, so why not enjoy them in all of their glory. Hats, scarves, silk flowers for my hair, headbands, beads and baubles, cloaks, coats, shawls and throws. Not to mention rhinestone embedded sunglasses.
5. I listen to Funk and Electronica, and any dance-worthy music.
6. While I don't quite embrace the title, I have been called "The 80's Princess" by my siblings and spouse. I think it's meant to goad me a little and to give me a bad time, but I choose to take it as a compliment. The 80's were better. People wore makeup and fixed their hair, and didn't walk around looking like a train wreck all the time. To modernize the look: Hairspray is o.k. Blue eyeshadow, not so much.
7. I was an Art Major. Color. Drama. Opinions. Flair. To him, this justifies everything that is not conservative about me. For me, it just makes me laugh every time I hear "Well, you are an artist." So I laugh and kiss his face and say "And what would you do without me--without your artist??" to which he replies "I would be a lonely, single man. You are the best decision I ever made, and I was young and stupid when I made it." Which in turn warms me from the tip of my head to my toes and makes everything that might be wrong right again.
So...as you can see...his concern is not unfounded. It's a pretty for-sure deal that he's married to a girl who is going to end up as a glammed out old lady. Sorry, honey...it can't be helped.
And to Kristin--thanks for giving me a great laugh and putting some perspective on it--you're right--Attitude is Everything!
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