Things that stick with you....

Sometimes I reread books I have here. I keep the ones that speak to me. And every now and then I'm drawn back to one for whatever reason. Usually its cuz I need something to read in the "reading room". hehehe. And so today I picked up that book by Loretta La Roche.

I like to do that sometimes to refresh my memory of the book, to see why I'm keeping it and sometimes to see just what stuck to me after I finished it. Today this book reminded me why I'm different and I like being different. This book talks about how everyone is a clone today. How the media tells us how to be and everyone that doesn't fit it is seen as weird or eccentric. But she says being different is how we should be. After all we all have different talents, points of views, different bodies and likes and dislikes. So she talks about how to be more different and happy about it . The happy part tho is what drew me to her in the first place yrs ago.

My grand daughter J and I were once watching Loretta's PBS show long ago. This lady is seriously funny and even the young J liked her. But the part that really got us was the TA DAAAA part of her show. She talked about being silly and how it affects you and makes you happy. And sometimes it even makes others smile and be happy. 

 Now the ex was in the downstairs "reading room" right near where we were watching this. It came to the TA DAAAAAA part and J and I were just cracking up. (we have done this often thru our relationship and I just love it, if you ever see her just say the words "poop fairy" and she will start to roar lol) And so silly old us, decided to make grampa smile and J dressed up as the TA DAAAAAA lady. We put a burger king crown on her head and a blanket around her shoulders. When grampa opened the door......we yelled TA DAAAAAAAA in the silly outfit. We were laughing ourselves silly........but he wasn't. He not only didn't get it but thought we were insane. (honestly tho not much will make him laugh anyway so it was bound to fail.) But we had a blast and were doing it over and over all day. It WAS fun.

And so I love Loretta's blog and books and her outlook on life. http://lorettalaroche.wordpress.com/ 
And Ive always been different and freely admitted it. I remember one day an Aunt was over. I forget what we were looking at but I never forgot what she said to me. She said "you like anything that's different" and she said it in a way that sounded like a put down. Like I'm weird. At first I was a bit hurt that she would even say something like that. But then being the different weirdo that I am, I thought shes the one with the problem.....so I simply answered her.......YES I DO.

But long ago I realized being different is what made me special. Its ez to look like a clone of everyone else or behave like that but if its NOT who you are, then you're a phony. Ive always loved the Velveteen Rabbit story cuz in the end your real........and I am real, always.

But this also made me think of long ago. My kids were young, we just bought our first house and he was working for a company that would in the end create a career for him. And so the company would have a yearly Christmas party. Now in the beginning he was just a service tech., just one of many so we certainly didn't have a lot of money nor were we able to keep up with the Joneses. So I sewed alot of clothes for my kids and I.

One of the first few parties tho I didn't have much cash for anything so I wore a pretty black skirt I had and a white blouse with ruffles on the V neck and sleeves. It was a nice outfit, nothing flashy but at least a bit dressy. The following yr. tho I had no money at all to buy anything. I didn't have much of anything dressy in my closet either since I was a homemaker and mom. I didn't need things like that. And so I wore the same thing again. It didn't bother me except that I hoped no one would remember. You know how catty women can be. No one said a word to me tho.

But later on my ex mentioned to me that someone said I wore the same thing two yrs in a row. And he was annoyed with me!  I was shocked. First I didn't think anyone would notice, after all we were not the Pres. and VP or any managers, just one of the peons. Second, the ex didn't give me any money to buy something and I had no extra from our budget so what the heck did he think I could do? He was funny like that.....

And so I started to sew my outfits, often planning them well ahead of time so he couldn't bitch. I recall one time buying $1 yd. jersey fabric that I liked and made a long gown with it. To spark it up I splurged on rhinestones to make the straps with. Apparently everyone loved it. If they only knew who the designer really was lol.

And another time I found a cheap white halter gown. It looked like the one Marilyn Monroe wore only floor length. I borrowed a floor length black hooded velvet cape from a friend to cover it. So imagine me walking into the room with that cape. Thats the sort of thing you wore to the opera not a company party. And when I took it off there was the Marilyn dress....from all covered up to almost bare on top. Seems I was a hit lol. Even one of the workers dad who came with them......asked me to dance. And apparently he was a great dancer.

He took me in his arms and swirled me around the room like we were great ballroom dancers. My white gown was twirling all around and we were quite the spectacle. Its actually really nice to dance with someone who knows how to lead you around the room. It was one of those moments...you remember forever.

And so I think I like having fun and being different. I dont know why everyone else doesn't like it, why do they all try to be the same? Its so boring and doesn't create good memories either.