Somewhere in a law school classroom, a lovely young woman with a funky, contemporary fashion sense shifts uncomfortably in her seat, unaware of the drama that is unfolding . . . and refolding . . . and unfolding again some thirty miles away. She is not aware of any cause for concern, yet there is this slightly nagging sense that the delicate balance of the universe has been set askew.
Fig. 1: Funky, contemporary fashion accessory.
In her world everything is as it should be. She is prepared for today’s lecture. The sun rose this morning. It will set this evening. When she left home, the neighbors were lined up awaiting the opening of the liquor store near her apartment. They will be there when she gets home. The bus came on time. It dropped her off on time. Down the road a-piece, her mother is preparing for work, probably wearing black. Again. The Orioles lost last night. A day like any other.
Still there is this uneasy feeling, this sense that something in the universe is not as it should be.
In her ever-optimistic perspective, today is another day for The Birds, and come next Tuesday she’ll either be cheering her heart and her voice out at Camden Yards or going to the theatre with her mother, who always wears black. All is well. Except for the black. Why must she always wear black?
I know two things that this lovely young woman does not yet know.
I know that she has inherited a keen and heightened intuition that the women in her family have possessed for at least three generations. It will grow stronger as she gets older and it will, to employ the vernacular, freak people out.
She’ll be hoppin’ on wavelengths, having odd dreams that come true — although none of them ever involve anyone winning the lottery or coming up with a cure for cancer or
anything . . . noooo . . . because that would be just too darned useful. And she will have this sense that creeps up on her, which she will shrug off each time, until the reason for it later reveals itself. It will bother her because she will understand that it’s a pretty nutty thing to talk about and people will wonder about her sanity. But they’ll also be wondering how she knew to say X or do Y, when she didn’t know to say or do those things. It just happened.
This is why some time before the end of the day, without knowing why, she will feel compelled to call her mother, wherein she will learn the second thing I know that she doesn’t yet know.
And that is this.
The second thing.
Somewhere down the road, her mother is taking to heart the gentle criticism this lovely young woman with the funky, contemporary fashion sense offered the last time they were shopping together. It went something like this. . .
NotReallyAHippie Mother: What do you think of this blouse?
Fig. 2: What’s with the hatin’? It’s beautiful and versatile and, most important, slimming. Look how svelte that letter A is . . with no cosmetic enhancement!
Funky/ContemporaryFashionSense Daughter: Love it! My favorite thing about it is that it is not black.
Thus the lovely young woman’s mother is dismayed, looking at the only thing in today’s wardrobe line-up, a plain black dress. With the weather finally cool enough, tomorrow is going to be the first official donning of The Uniform (black turtleneck, jeans, and black boots), which will be standard for the next several months.
She recalls yesterday’s black slacks. Three consecutive days of black are too much even for her, especially this early in the cool months.
She decides to take a page from her daughter’s book and add a scarf. A pink scarf. A bright pink scarf. The one she bought because it reminded her of her daughter’s contemporary fashion sense. The daughter rocks pink. She rocks scarves. Maybe that’s why her daughter is so cheerful. Maybe it’s the pink. . . or the scarves. She decides to give it a try.
Fig. 3: Seriously, how hard could this be?
The NotReallyAHippie mother wraps the scarf loosely around her neck, the way she has seen the lovely young woman wear hers. The look does not translate when she checks the mirror. She unwraps, tries folding it a little, re-wraps. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
She thinks to herself that somewhere up the road in a law school classroom, her daughter is probably sitting uneasily in her seat, with a cute scarf wrapped perfectly around
her neck, wondering why she has this uneasy feeling that something is wrong in the universe.
The end. Or so I thought.
I Swear I Am Not Making This Up.
In the middle of the afternoon, the NotReallyAHippie mother is surprised to receive an email from her lovely, yet very busy daughter. This is a verbatim excerpt from that email:
P.S. I am dressed like a hippie today. Flowing shirt, moccasins, and new turquoise necklace [boyfriend] brought me from Turkey. I thought you would approve.
Fig. 4: Some thirty miles away, a law student is dressed like a hippie.
The scarf is fab, as is the necklace. I really heart that necklace.
Funny story, Hipster, with a Freaky Friday spin to it.
So, how are you feeling today? Here’s to more colroful days ahead. Color agrees with you.
Thank you, Lenore. I heart that necklace, too. It’s a lot of fun. You can’t see the matching earrings, but I bought those to go with a pink sheath dress this summer. It was a summer of color. I haven’t updated the fall/winter “collection” though, because that involves shopping and I like that as much as you do: not.
I really can’t comment about the pink scarf, because the Man-police would probably close in on me and confiscate my Man-card if I offered any fashion advice with flair and panache. So I’ll play it safe, and hope you have a nice Orange scarf to rock whatever Black you’ll be wearing next week watching the O’s in the post season at the Yard. See? A fashion statement intertwined with sports. Have a grand weekend Hippie!
This is a safe place, Phil, free of the restraints of gender roles. (Somehow I feel like I’m going to regret saying that.)
Great idea on the orange scarf! Even if things don’t work out for the O’s (I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but they are), I can wear it on Halloween as my costume.
Happy weekend to you and your girls!
I’m a guy. I wear khakis every day because everything goes with khakis; on weekends, jeans, because everything goes with jeans. Khakis and jeans are basically Garanimals for guys. So, I have nothing to add to this conversation.
I hope this doesn’t freak you out, but I have a very strong sense you’re going to wear jeans tomorrow.
Eerie, right?
Sigh, I was never a scarf person. I love them, though — on other women! Now color? Yep, I’m a big fan of color. Wearing too much black, especially around my face with its pale Irish skin, totally washes me out. So I tend to keep the colors around — and that hot pink is rockin’! Love your mother-daughter connectedness, too!
I love scarves and hats and my closet is full of them. One of my favorite things about winter is wearing a scarf and knit beret and wool coat (a result of Love Story probably), but wearing either one all day makes me feel like what my son used to call a “fancy lady”. I am not a fancy lady. I feel like a fraud.
*sigh* I ALWAYS wondered how some people manage to fashionably wrap those scarves around their necks. Every time I try and copy it never looks the same and I rather feel my own grandmother. A reason why I avoided scarves for many years. Only now I start wearing them more, because I rather look stooopid then freeze around the neck.
I’m sure you look lovely in them. It probably is all about attitude . . .AND keeping warm!
The force is with us. This actually happened. Or, in lawyer speak, “I can vouch for the veracity of this account.”
Back to lawyering, no rest for the weary… Happy Friday!
Look at you coming in here tossing your lawyerly words and Jedi references around. I think we might be related.
LAWYERED!!
I’ve never been able to make scarves work. I need to take a remedial scarf class, or something.
A few comments down, K8edid suggested a vlog. Maybe we can convince Katybee to do a Babs-like cameo. . . without a staple gun.Or maybe Jules can convince Babs to do a video. Jules…oh, Juuuuules!
Black is wonderful…especially with a splash of colour. Scarves are a great way to go. You will get there. It is very kool how you and your daughter are so “tuned in” to each other.
Thank you….yes, she and I have some pretty neat stories. For example, we purchased the same photograph for our bathrooms, neither of us knew the other had bought it. And it’s not something you’d see at the Target or K-Mart. That’s just one. . . .
You should do a vlog about putting on a scarf. I don’t think I’ll ever master it. One always looks “contrived” on me. Or sadly out of place.
I thought that very thing. Maybe Katybee could do a Babs-type cameo. Sadly, there would be no Uncle Jesse.
However, she dogsits an adorable pug sometimes. That could work.
Oh, please do it. Please, please, please, please….
Getting on her schedule is tough! Maybe we’ll get it together before Kidneybean goes to high school. I don’t think B-Man should be teaching her those things.
As long as the Yankees win, everything IS right with the universe. CC just went the distance won 3-1.
@#$%^@#$%* Stupid Yankees.
You are right. The A is upper case, but the black makes it look so lower case.
Bummed about the O’s, yet optimistic like I haven’t been since the ’80′s. Is it spring training yet?
Normally I airbrush my upper-case letters to maintain a certain aesthetic, but set against that stygian background, that is like the Gisele Bὒndchen of upper-case letters. (I used a thesaurus. . . . typed in ‘Carol Alt’ and ‘Gisele Bὒndchen’ was suggested as a more modern example. Ba-dum-ching.)
So, I’m thinking about this scarf. The first thing that occurs to me is that, when it comes to accessorizing for work, the combination of a scarf and an orbital sander might not be the best.
On the other hand, given what a loser I am when it comes to draping a scarf, it might be that applying the orbital sander would be just the thing.
I really love the image of you in a fancy pink scarf (or color of your choosing, but it is October, after all, and the patriotic color of October is pink), Just be sure to wear protective eyewear. Goggles and scarves.
Curiously, I am now picturing you as Doc from Back to the Future.
Pretty in pink! Scarves are such a wonderful way to add flair to a black wardrobe. And like hair, an accessory that’s fun to change!
It’s funny you should mention hair. . .
I have that scarf. I have it and have never figured out how or what to wear it with. I too wear an inordinate amount of black. But I do usually pair it with some sort of color. I just don’t really know what to do with scarves. I think yours looks rad. Good job, non hippie mama.
Is your daughter at UB or UMD?
Thank you, counselor. Here’s a hint from a funny tidbit of conversation: Katybee was telling me about a classmate who complains about how much work there is to do and, without the slightest bit of snark, very matter-of-factly, Katybee said, “If this were real law school, it would be a lot harder.” That cracked me up.
Ha! Well, that pretty much answers my question then. I, too, went to the same faux law school.
Those in the know tell me it’s gaining quite a good reputation. No doubt alum like you have something to do with that.