remember?

I seem to find myself drawn to revisiting the past as the school year draws to a close and summer plans begin to take shape.  As I shift through possible fun projects for more spacious days, this memory presented itself in response to this interview with Maya Donenfeld whose Story Scarves class I will be attending this coming fall at Squam.

still having lots of fun painting these colorful girls from Paint Your Story

Remember when adulthood hovered

an exciting castle in the air of our expectations?

I imagined it to be a magical transformation into something fuller,

more complete and self-contained

When I was a teen the rite of passage was a hippy denim skirt.

I took a pair of old levi’s

and painstakingly ripped out the inseams

each stitch another childhood worry released

and my teenage self liberated one golden thread at a time

from who I had been

who I no longer could bear to be

Harder though

was the reshaping something new

from stiff and worn denim,

floral print fabric used to fill in the gaps

pushing needle through dense layers - miles of hand sewing!

A thimble used when fingertips became sore

It was an act of determination to complete the thing

I remember the toll

but also the thrill

skinny girl legs stepping into maidenhood

adorned with Love’s lemon fresh

Bonnie Bell lips

Covergirl and

Dr.Scholl’s

New armor and allies

And I remember the surprise -

a floor length denim skirt being very heavy,

cumbersome

and hot to wear

I may had shed some childhood fears,

but I was unprepared for the weight of new ones

Still, I wore that skirt triumphantly,

my badge of adulthood

independence declared one painful stitch at a time.

 

 Happy summer dreaming. It's almost here ...