I had such a busy day yesterday, with so much to tell you but no time! It’s very hard to go back even a day to recap, though, since there’s always so much going on here, so I’ll just share with you one of the highlights.
A dear friend was turning 69, and invited me to her birthday party. Yes, she’s twice my age, but she really is my friend. She has a beautiful spirit and joy for life, and I always enjoy chatting with her – we speak about once a week. She was doing something unusual and fun for her party – since she was a teenager in the 50s, she decided to make her birthday party theme the 50s. And she requested that all of her guests wear at least one item in accordance with the theme. She told me her goal was for everyone to have fun, since we tend to take life too seriously and not laugh enough.
Oh, gosh. I knew I didn’t have anything to wear, couldn’t think of how to adapt what I had, didn’t want to go buy something just for a party, and kept procrastinating about doing some research to get new ideas. I was getting kind of uptight about it, and even very briefly toyed with the idea of not going just so I wouldn’t have to come up with something. But that was ridiculous.
Finally, two hours before the party, I called my mom for ideas. I was feeling desperate. My hair wasn’t teasing, and I had been counting on that to create my look. Once I started brainstorming with my mom, things started getting fun! I ended up wearing my straightest shortest skirt (which for me means 2 or 3 inches past the knees), a fitted t-shirt with a cardigan on top, brushed my bangs flat over my forehead, stuck a headband on, and tried to tease the hair behind the headband. That was an utter failure. I was a teenager in the late 80s so I should know how to tease hair, but we only teased our bangs, and my arms got tired long before my hair got that beehive look. I tied a scarf around my neck, put on some bright lipstick that came as part of a set (I would never have bought it!), and was ready to go.
My kids and the visiting friend looked up at me when I came down the stairs and asked me if I was really going to go out looking like that. 🙂 (I think the lipstick might have been the most shocking part.) Yes, I told them, I was. I’m not naturally good at doing spontaneous fun stuff that requires me to leave my comfort zone, so this was a conscious effort for me. A friend picked me up, we got to the party, and found the room decorated with 50s nostalgia and the birthday girl dressed from head to toe as a teenager of the 50s and women of all ages there to share in the celebration, some totally dressed to the theme, others less so.
When the music went on, it was all fifties hits. The women were invited onto the dance floor(it was all religious women), while I sedately sat on the sidelines, eating my fruit and cheese. Dancing isn’t my strong point; I tend to feel self-conscious and I really have no idea how to do any 50s dances (maybe because I was born long, long after that!). Someone else who wasn’t dancing turned to me and asked me my name, and did a double take when I told her. It turns out she’d been wanting to meet me for a while (she knew about me from a relative I was able to help get started looking into alternative healing), and I was glad to be able to put her face to her name, too.
Then there were several talks and presentations (which were so beautiful), and a hula hoop game began. We linked arms in a circle, and had to pass the hula hoop from one to another without letting go of the circle, while music played. When the music stopped, whoever was at the left of the hula hoop had to go into the circle and dance together. That forced me to lighten up a little, lol! It actually was really fun to let go and not worry about knowing the steps, just having pure fun. When you’re looking silly with other people, it’s not something you need to think so much about, you know?
It was a lot of fun, but it was more than anything a celebration of life by and for a wonderful woman, and it was really a privilege to have been invited to participate.
Avivah
