The prism of perspective
When I was little, on occasion, my mom would bring me with her to work, usually during summers when her duties were mostly administrative, and I was out of school/kindergarden. One such day, I was with her at work watching as she was trying to sell a dress. Why would she sell a dress at a technical high school? Well, communist Russian stores didn't usually honor a return policy, so if you bought something you didn't like, or that didn't fit, you usually tried to hand it off to someone else for the same price or less. Or more - depending on your business sense, I guess, even though technically in those times business sense was illegal. Not technically, actually, but quite literally: "speculation" was a serious offense.
ANYWAY.
She was trying to unhand a dress to a co-worker. It was a purple crepe affair with a knee length pleated skirt, long poofy sleeves with buttoned cuffs, a belt that tied and some sort of polka dot design. It was on a hanger, hanging on a hook or a window fixture in the office - I don't remember - but the way it was hanging slightly higher than everyone's eye level, the way the belt tie cinched the waist, and the breeze fluttered the skirt pleats made the dress look like a slender floating fairy woman. I thought it was so graceful and elegant...
It might have looked something like this:
I said to my mom, "I think this dress is for a thin beautiful young woman." I kind of suspect that what I was thinking was "This dress is for a thin beautiful young woman, so why did you buy it?"
She answered, "I am a thin beautiful young woman, and this dress is for a fat middle aged housewife!"
Even back then, I had enough sense not to argue, but I'd bet in my head I said something like, "Okaaaaaaay..." and averted my eyes down and to the left.
How old must she have been at that time?
28?
27?
Jesus Christ!
ANYWAY.
She was trying to unhand a dress to a co-worker. It was a purple crepe affair with a knee length pleated skirt, long poofy sleeves with buttoned cuffs, a belt that tied and some sort of polka dot design. It was on a hanger, hanging on a hook or a window fixture in the office - I don't remember - but the way it was hanging slightly higher than everyone's eye level, the way the belt tie cinched the waist, and the breeze fluttered the skirt pleats made the dress look like a slender floating fairy woman. I thought it was so graceful and elegant...
It might have looked something like this:
I said to my mom, "I think this dress is for a thin beautiful young woman." I kind of suspect that what I was thinking was "This dress is for a thin beautiful young woman, so why did you buy it?"
She answered, "I am a thin beautiful young woman, and this dress is for a fat middle aged housewife!"
Even back then, I had enough sense not to argue, but I'd bet in my head I said something like, "Okaaaaaaay..." and averted my eyes down and to the left.
How old must she have been at that time?
28?
27?
Jesus Christ!
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