A collection of memories I enjoy.
Yes, it all starts out so clever and cute. Here I am for all you know attempting to locate which finger to use to salute you...
Well, got that off my chest; just kidding. Anyway, when I was very young my mother had the habit of dressing my sister who was born a year or so earlier alike. It was pleasant enough I suppose. She didn't have to bother with paying attention to our individuality and we could gracefully enter society functions as some kind of a matched pair. We had an older brother and sister, and she did not, I am sorry to say dress them alike. Perhaps that might have been fun.
Anyway before one of these sacred social events she had rolled my golden hair up in some brown, rubber, banana curl makers. I have no idea where they came from, if they were something left from the turn of the century or what. However, they were in. The trick of getting them out was a mystery to myself and so I proceeded to find my rounded tip scissors. Poised to cut the suckers out, I had at it in the basement of our home on 163rd Place. Not having a mirror was a bit of a problem but being under four and of a very sound mind, I was completely done with having my hair held hostage and this plastic banging against my head. Off they came.
As my mother sought me to prepare my sister and I in our look alike attire, a lovely brown velvet bodice with short sleeve and decorated with turquoise appointments along with accordion pleated turquoise filmy stuff over taffeta, she pretty much screamed in horror. She must have used up her fainting quota that month. She rushed me to a local barber, thanking her G-d, he was open, and he gave me what they called a Pixie haircut. Lovely thing it was too, no more curlers, long shampoos, just the sort of cut for a girl who liked to get into mischief.
The lovely dress on the hairless wonder. Note the uneven sides...the barber did what he could.
Time has a way of marching on and hair a way of growing. By the ripe age of five I was moved from Indiana to Illinois. Just enough time was spent in Indiana for me to mis-pronounce Illinois for the rest of my life. My accent is apparently humorously detectable which always surprises me because I am definitely not doing it on purpose.
I have always liked things that buttoned right up and this dress was no exception. Yeah, those are big coins all over the dress and a coin kind of button. The whole headband thing was something that I really didn't enjoy but my mother was somehow obsessed with showing what she called my widow's peak off.
The transition from kindergarten to school was an interesting one. I had no idea there would be no more naps. Not that I really napped all that well anyway. Come to think of it, we had little rugs we napped on, kind of reminds me of being a dog. I was kind of put off dogs for some reason for a bit of my life, that only changing when I was about 30. Now my dog is my constant companion. I do mean constant. She follows me everywhere and is most attentive. People have said she is a service dog, because she seems to lower my blood pressure. Fancy that. Anyway she is the sweetest, quietest fox wire haired terrier that probably ever existed. It is nice to have a good friend that just sleeps by you or keeps an eye on you.
Again with the headband. I included this picture because I love this color of pumpkin orange. I found that whenever I wore it in my life, I was always very satisfied with how I looked.
This was obviously when my hair had finally grown out. It was never apparently the right kind of hair, too thin, not curly, etc. So that involved lots of chemical perms, weird cuts, and all that before I was old enough to realize that I there might be something wrong with my hair. My sister a few years older had big, thick, full, luxurious hair, so thick it had to thinned. Really, thinned out. So long and heavy, an unbelievable mass of hair.
No more bangs!
At 15 my hair was finally long, finally. Close up it was full of terrible split ends and while it looks pretty good here, would never be what some of the girls had. So as I was entering high school, I kind of got it cut to a reasonable length, even though, long was the fashion. I got over it. Still no make up here. I don't wear much now either. I just liked to wear some around my eyes, and some lipstick usually. However, I just didn't think I needed it too much. I know lots of people are like that. I do put it all on when I need to, but these days, I don't need to.
This wispy layered cut was kind of the rage at the end of high school and seemed to work for my hair.
I always liked this picture because my mother made the dress. It was really soft and fitted with a flair skirt. I just slipped it over my head. I used this same picture for my student ID in Europe in black and white.
I promise, this is not all about hair. However, this is a picture of me junior year of college, after having cut my own hair in Europe. I got there and it was long. It was too much to bother with. Annoying and a time waster, when I had mountains to climb.
When my mother received this photo booth shot along with a a side view, she was predictably angry. Why in the world did I have to cut my hair, she had exclaimed, why waste your expensive aero gram on that, I had thought. There was a real push pull of growing in that era and by the time I had come home, I really had grown emotionally, spiritually and I cut my hair even shorter before I left. I had a salon do it in Vienna, I had not had that pixie cut in years, but it was some kind of statement to me and I enjoyed it. My boyfriend at the time bemoaned the fact, but I had no interest in any opinion like that, in fact I had not even considered what he might think. Telling, eh?
Post college graduation, sitting on a lovely river edge.
I was laughing the other day because my son in Germany had gone to a used clothing store. Most of the kids had gone there to try and find a Halloween costume. Of course he found a jacket, that actually looked very much like this one. We have some kind of similar taste. This picture was taken at a time of lots of changes in my life. I was trying to find my path and doing all different kinds of things, personally and work wise to find it. The one thing that probably stands out is how much more complicated life could get when you got older and were on your own.
Okay, so I went back to the perm stuff.
In search of some kind of business career, I finally broke into the big time and was kind of on a track. It wasn't long before I went through several different incarnations and ended up doing a lot of HR kinds of positions in varying size companies. Around this time I was finally thinking it might be nice to be married.
I was blessed with a very good man.
Once while working for a food brokerage with two locations, one downstate, I had to do some flying to get out and meet with some people in that office. There was a horrible storm and the plane we had taken off in was not doing well. We were in the air and all the things that you wish will never happen on a flight began to happen. The girl in the seat next to me was probably about 25. She, along with many other on the plane had reached her emotional breaking point. The turbulence left nothing to the imagination and the plane an American Eagle turbo prop. I was calm for some unknown reason. Trust me, even I was shocked. I could see and hear this woman's distress and even the men around me falling apart. I just kept saying to her it was going to be okay, we would be okay. We were. We limped back to the original airport that we had left an hour earlier. We were alive. The airport was closed, they worked to get a jet out there that could stand the weather for us to try and leave again. My husband had been ready to take a road trip to pick me up, with our dog at the time. The experience had been kind of life changing, the girl saw me as we were boarding the jet, she was so embarrassed, she could not look me in the eye. I was not judging her, but maybe she felt so afraid of dying that to be spared, she was still in shock regarding it. I have often thought about that.
Our first dog, Chekov
Chekov survived many years, but after the last baby he had enough. He helped us learn about caring for someone other than ourselves and for that I will be forever grateful. Having him was like having a child in so many ways by the time the twins finally arrived, we were all practiced up, so we thought.
Don't even think about it.
We have mostly always had a business, before the kids were born I spent time at the shop nearly every day. I enjoyed working with my husband and some people thought that was nuts. I actually preferred that to working for other people and spending the day away from him. Throughout our marriage I have worked when it was needed and not when I was needed at home. I spent all of my time with my children when they were little. When they went to school I did some substitute teaching, volunteering and non profit work. I was always home when they were and when they needed me to be. I did go to work full time when we sold our business and no one wanted to hire my husband with his MBA. I held down the financial end while he looked and then he took the responsibility back when we decided to re open our business in another location. We have always been a team.
Trust me we know how to have fun.
This has always been a household of laughter and fun. We spent our time together, eating together, worshiping together, living and caring for each other.
When we came back from Europe in 2001, we found our dog Chessie.
The kids had done some alpine sledding in the Austria and when we came home in June they wanted to go again before school started. In Galena Illinois there was a place to do this, Chestnut Mountain. So we went out for a long weekend of sledding and on the way home stopped in Elisabeth. There was a sign about a dog for sale. We met the breeders and they had this little dog left. Well the kids had all been working on us getting a dog, including my husband, all but one. He was the hold out. "I will not feed it, I will not play with it, I don't want any kind of dog." Tough talk from a ten year old. Well, as luck would have it, we fell in love with this puppy. We bought it then and there. We set out to go back home and this little five pound dog, found its way right to the lap of the twin who had been five pounds at birth, the one who wanted nothing to do with a dog. Of course it was love at first sight.
I spent some of my time in politics. You meet some people when you do stuff like that.
Anyway, I am not going to tell myself that there will be 55 more of these to go. Especially after I lost my sister unexpectedly this fall at age 56. I will settle for what I can get. So far it has been quite a ride, with lots of fun and interesting things that have happened along the way. My goal was to spend this special year slowing things down and writing. That was my special gift to myself, for this special birthday. We can make so many things work in our lives for us, not against us. Age is one of those things too. As we enter into each phase of our lives, we have the opportunity to make new paths, new friends, new adventures and new memories. This has been what OS has brought me. So, thanks everyone for such a great present! (I promised it would not all be about hair!)
Copyright 2010 Words & Pictures by SheilaTGTG55
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Comments
Happy Birthday
I wish I was turning 55. I am going to hit 60 this year.Where did the time go?
You have had a wonderful life and I envy your family.
nothing but hugs
Linda
Life ain't always about the hair.
It does tell the story well here tho'.
I am one cent shy of the double nickle now.
Linda: I think you are younger than me...you look great and your energy and attitude make you about 35 or so. I pronounce it thus! Hahahah.
Veronica: Thank you Veronica, I am honored to receive your admiration, I am trying to live this life with some gusto and purpose, you have just affirmed those efforts, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Joan: Thanks Joan, I thought us girls would enjoy the hair aspect, it really is an occupation in our lives at points.....
AtHomePilgrim: Thank you, I am warmed by your thoughts. Yes, bit by bit we grow up, we change, our bodies reflect that and our minds rejoice in all that has been past and what is to come, if we chose to think positively.
Sophieh: Kind of how I look at life, with a steady gaze and a smile of welcome, affirmation and wonder. When the light of the smile goes off, I do not like it all so much, so I work to keep it natural, present, it radiates a kind of energy that I need. Thanks for the wishes.
cartouche: One of these would be a great Andy Warhol study right? Only which one to chose....ahahahah
greenheron: Pixies rule! Thanks for the wishes! I am putting them all in a jar and saving them for a dark, starless night. I will unleash them and all will be wonderful and well.
Mary: If we did not celebrate a birthday, once a year or even now and then, we would be a person with just a little less joy and a little more wanting. Birthdays do affirm our existence. We are here, we live, we have joy. Thanks for your wishes...
lschoompie: That Rita girl gets around. She was at a pro choice event at a Chicago PAC telling her story of a back alley abortion as a young starlet. I have a lot of compassion for her experiences. She was a trail blazer in her own right. Rita Moreno is a good woman.
Jon: Thanks for stopping.
Happy Birthday Gorgeous!
Algis: I was happy when I started to write it and I found myself wanting to share my happiness, so you got it!!!
Amy: Pixies totally RULE!!!!! I was free and I loved it! I wore pony tails at one point too but never liked the feeling of pulling, so PIXIES were better!
David: Thanks David, I am still not over her loss. I am living some in memory, especially today, my birthday. She would have been 57 on January 16, so I am gonna get through all these days and then, perhaps it will start to be a different feeling. We used to feel like we just celebrated starting at Thanksgiving on...ahahah, when we were kids. Anyway, your wishes mean a lot and I thank you!
(I LOVED these photos)
Yes, yes it would!! :D
Rated.