Nostalgia

Ahhh...to be young again.  Spring has sprung and summer is hot on it's tail.  That means spring and summer fashions are splattered all across the pages of various magazines.  I am a fashionista at heart.  Always have been.  I can remember being 18 and feeling a rush of excitement each month when the Cosmo issue came out.  I desperately yearned to be able to dress like the models brandished on the pages...alas, I was dirt poor. Well, maybe not dirt poor, but I certainly couldn't afford the high couture peddled therein.  That little detail, however; did not keep me from finding pieces that came very close to the originals.  Thus began a love affair with bargain brands.  It is a love affair I am still in the throes of.  The difference being that today, as a woman with a decent paying job, I can afford the likes of Ann Taylor, White House/Black Market, Chico's, and department stores like Dillards,Macys, and Nordstrom's.  And of course, now there are a variety of high-end outlets to troll.  There is nothing that compares to the feeling of reeling in a huge catch like say a pair of $300 Ann Taylor suede boots for about $100.  It's even better when friends give me gift cards for special occasions to my favorite fashion locales and, as in the case of the boots, my out-of-pocket is a mere pittance ($50 of the $100 for the boots).  I rarely, if ever, pay regular price for my fashion.  There is such a rush in hooking a great deal on clothes, shoes, and accessories.

But getting back to my wistful sentiment, it would really be nice to be young again.  Not only would I feel and look stronger, healthier, firmer, but I would be able to wear the current fashions available to women in their 20's and 30's.  This year, on Dec. 4th, I will turn 50.  And while I do wear platforms and high heels now, I can't help but acknowledge the encroaching cessation of that singular pleasure.  Today, as I peruse the pages of various fashion magazines, Cosmo still among them, I ardently wish I could wear the youthful fashions on display but the reality is that I must relegate myself to more age appropriate fashions.  Now I'm not talking matronly or staid but certainly not something twenty and thirty year olds can get away with.  For example, I can get away with wearing this as opposed to something like this which I would absolutely love to wear in this searing Texas heat.  Oh well, I suppose I will have to experience youthful fashion vicariously through my daughters, all three of whom are in their twenties, just as I do other aspects of their lives.  Thank goodness for them, they keep me young at heart.  At least as far as fashion is concerned, they are following in their momma's high heels.