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My Mother’s Dresses
I thought I was going to tell the story of how my mom had her own personal seamstress that lived in her family’s house when she was a teenager growing up in Japan. But it turns out these dresses are not those dresses. These are Dynasty dresses made in the Hong Kong (the British Crown Colony says the tag) that her mom (my grandmother) bought her from the Navy Base Exchange. It’s not as good of a story but they are still very interesting dresses. Mostly because they are from 1968!
I remember when I was a teenager, I tried to wear these dresses too but they didn’t suit my late eighties taste so I never actually wore them. I was more into guess jeans and Esprit t-shirts, scrunchie socks and those mix-and-match knit sets. I shudder at the memories.
It brings me joy to see Bug wearing them. They look so pretty on her and she actually likes them too. When my mom gave these dresses to me to clean up and sell on eBay, they were a wrinkled mess. They have so much tailoring on them I was dreading the ironing job so I took them to the dry cleaner instead, which was the best decision ever! They came back so perfectly pressed, I found myself marvelling at how finely made they were. I decided I don’t want to sell these pretty dresses. I want to keep them! I don’t know if Bug will ever get a chance to wear them outside of our front yard photoshoot but I can daydream. Wouldn’t they be perfect for a garden party or a spring wedding?
For now we just have fun taking photos. I will tuck the dresses away safely in my closet and maybe someday we can take them out. Or maybe we’ll keep them around for the next generation if the world doesn’t end.
Isn’t it crazy that we have thoughts like that now? I think this pandemic-apocalypse-paranoia is getting to me. I’m pretty optimistic for the most part but I would be lying if I didn’t admit to taking a long hard pause when I start to think about making plans for the future.
For now, I’m just enjoying the beauty of today. I want to bottle Bug up with her silly red hair and keep her at this age forever. Sigh…
You’d never know she’s usually a gamer chick with a headset on, hunched over a computer playing Minecraft all day while she talks to her guy friends on discord. I really hope they have careers in gaming in her future because that’s what she seems to excel at.
But for now, I’ll pretend we are back in time and she’s actually reading a Jane Austin novel. It’s a nice daydream.
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A Random February Update
It’s time for a little catch-up post. I had a huge book deadline on February one (that I actually made by the skin of my teeth-yay!) so I’m a bit behind on regularly scheduled programming. What is regular around here? You got me there. There is no regular programming.
First up: visiting my parents. I usually go out to the desert every Wednesday but they’ve been sick and I’ve been tied up with books these last few weeks. It was really nice to go out today and catch up a little. My mom is getting ready for shoulder surgery on the 20th and feeling a little under the weather. She wasn’t up for walking but she did take a ride with me to my barn in her new nifty wheelchair. I pushed her along in her chair with the dogs until we hit some sand and she had to walk from there. Which she did!
I got my picture. Blue skies all around!
Then back home to visit and snuggle with some cats.
I should mention that my brother has been living with my parents for the last month or so while he has a few workman’s comp meetings with his lawyer. My sister-in-law stayed behind to work and just this last week she flew down to reunite with him. It was so sweet to see them back together again after being apart for so long.
I haven’t really talked about this but my brother and his family have been couch-surfing in different homes for a while since my brother can’t work due to injuries. It’s a trying time for them but I think they are going to make it.
It was super nice to catch up with CC. We took her out for our traditional late start day breakfast.
In other news, while Payam was on a business trip a week ago I rearranged my entire office to fit this new couch. I am crazy like that. I took down Payam’s desk, dismantled it, re-organized all of his paperwork and ordered and assembled this giant couch in one day. It was a blast.
The office has been a thorn in my side for years and I’ve been plotting a redesign for a long time. A really long time. But I don’t like to rearrange furniture when Payam is home because I can be a bit (actually a lot) manic and pretty much upend everything until I find a harmonious situation. I will push furniture around and around all over the house until I get it right. This can be a bit exhausting for anyone not existing on the same manic mode. So I wait until everyone is gone and do my crazy all by myself.
I’m still not 100% satisfied but it is a LOT better than it was. Sadly, I spent all this time organizing a big couch around a television in hopes of creating a “kids hang-out room” to come to the conclusion that the kids are perfectly happy to ignore the televison in favor of watching youtube on their phones instead. Phooey!
So this might not be the end of my office mayhem.
Speaking of kids, we threw Bug an “it’s not really a party” birthday dinner.
There is this really cute bakery right by Bug’s orthodontist. It has turquoise painted walls and rows and rows of beautiful cakes and cupcakes. Every time she goes to get her braces tightened we stop by and get a cupcake there. And every time they give us the cupcake for free! “It’s on the house,” they say smiling as if they know that she just got her braces tightened and will be in major pain in an hour or so. Well, it turns out their marketing strategy works because when we were planning Bug’s dinner and I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she requested an old-fashioned chocolate cake (and a small red velvet cake) from that particular bakery. I was happy to oblige. They have definitely got my business being so sweet about free cupcakes for poor orthodontics patients.
Since it was not a birthday party, per her request, I let her put whatever inscription she wanted on her cake. She chose the letter “a.” I guess it’s some kind of meme or something with her friends. Everything is a meme these days.
So happy Aaaaa! I say. Happy Aaaa.
