I got invited to a memorial service for a woman who lived to be 99. It’s hard to be sad when someone has had such a good long life. We were encouraged to wear hats since the woman loved hats. I spoke into the mike about my friend from my antique shop days (she covered me every afternoon so I could run to the bathroom in another building).
I met a nice Swedish woman named Gun (pronounced something between goon and done) at the lunch afterward. She talked about growing up while World War II was happening and how worried she was about the election next week. Really, who isn’t worried?
I got home by 1:15. I needed a costume for a last-minute Halloween party. I found five red dresses in my closet for a devil costume, but where were the horns and tail? Plus, a devil outfit meant lots of people would come up to me with comments. Did I want that? The next choice was a witch. I put on a long black ball gown and then tried on the witch hats. None of them felt or looked right. Wouldn’t there be a lot of witches anyway?
I tried on my motorcycle mama t-shirt I’d bought at a biker bar in Sturgess, South Dakota, a decade before. I’d worn it exactly once. It was a long stretchy blue, with rhinestones on top of the black drawings. I found the black leather jacket I’d bought for cheap at a Carmel thrift store, then remembered I had black leather gloves with no finger tips.
I tied a black and white bandanna around my head, put on some black leggings and took three footwear choices down the hall to my adult child’s bedroom. “Which pair?” I asked.
“Don’t you have leather pants?” they asked.
“Not that fit me,” I said.
“Jeans would be better than leggings,” they said.
“Okay. What about the boots?”
“Those boots don’t match anything you’re wearing. I’d go with black.”
Millennial fashion advice. I took it.
Then the make-up, lots of dark eye shadow.
“And aviator sunglasses!” my child called, “reflective ones.”
I went out to the car and sorted through my sunglasses, picking the reflective aviator ones. Oh well if they had flowers on the stems. Who would notice at a dark party?
I added earrings, but since I didn’t have any plain hoops (or didn’t know where they were) I put on some drop-down rhinestone ones, because when you’re my age, you need all the sparkle you can get.
I got to the party early and discovered that it was mostly meet-up people that I see everywhere. They are a decade younger than I am. But two couples would be there who are older. I wasn’t going to worry about it.
One friend said, “Wow, look at you!”
Another friend said, “I didn’t recognize you at all (it’s the eye make-up).”
The band was only five people but two great female singers who had beautiful harmony. Some of the song choices weren’t my favorite and some were. One woman sang some songs in Spanish, which I always enjoy.
The younger meet-up people didn’t dance much. A dozen of them were pink ladies, and their guys were in black T-Bird shirts (from Grease). I’ve never seen such a tight-knit meet-up group.
One woman dressed like Amy Winehouse was friendly. Another woman named Paula didn’t recognize me, even after I hugged her (eye make-up). Monica said she recognized my face. Letty introduced herself to me (I’ve met her half a dozen times, so eye make-up).
Someone asked me who I was supposed to be.
“A biker chick, or Willie Nelson,” I said (because of the headband).
I really don’t get out much these days, only when I need to dance or sing. Not drinking has changed the nature of my outings.
I had two today!
P.S. No devils and a couple of witches. Only one biker chick/Willie Nelson.
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 