May Mittens

My preschooler recently discovered a pair of mittens hiding in the bottom of the diaper bag.  I put them there early in the winter to make sure we always had a pair in reserve.  He was delighted when he found them.  He’d been trying to wear his sisters’ gloves but they were always too big and he couldn’t quite get his fingers in the right places.

Now he wears his new blue mittens as often as he can.  Inside, outside, to the park when it’s seventeen degrees…

But who can blame him?  It might be seventeen degrees today but there’s no guarantee it will be above zero tomorrow.  Hi, I’m Kathryn.  I live in Alberta.

I’m often amazed around mid-March when people start complaining about the long winter and how spring just does not want to come this year.  I feel like taking them gently by the shoulders, looking into their eyes and, with as much kindness as I can muster, breaking the news to them that snow could be in the forecast for another two months.  Hi, what’s your name?  Do you know what province you live in?

I must admit, by early May I’m as tired of winter as everyone else and by then I’ve got seven pairs (each) of winter boots, splash boots, running shoes, and flip flops kicking around the house.  Enough!  So I start washing winter coats and packing away boots.  Away – but never too far.  At least until after the May long weekend.

If it snows after Victoria Day, I may have to move back to BC.

Fads of Fashion or Sense of Style

My daughter has a feather in her hair.  It didn’t sprout spontaneously from one of her follicles but was skillfully placed there by a stylist and secured with a special bead.  Her friend has one too.  So does her friend’s friend.  They’re everywhere.

I think it’s weird.  No weirder, though, I suppose, than the bushy hair and plaid bell-bottoms of my birth decade or the “bangs to heaven” and neon shoelaces of my teenage years.

Let’s face it:  Most trendy fashions are weird.  Why do we let ourselves get sucked into the madness?

At least this feather-in-the-hair is just a fad and not a long-term commitment like tattoos or piercings.  At least she won’t end up with scars or infections or wrinkly, green lines in thirty years.  No, I guess the blue and black striped feather in her hair isn’t too bad.  She wanted it.  She researched it.  She asked permission, argued her case, booked the appointment, and paid for it.

I’m glad she chose a feather and not some outrageous dye-job or cut.  Granted, this is coming from a woman who has never dyed her hair or done anything different with it since 1992.  As the gray creeps in, however, I’m beginning to see the virtues of streaks.  It may be time to rethink my conservative outlook on hair.

Fortunately, that’s what personal style is all about.  Unlike fashion which changes daily and is influenced by people who know nothing about us, style is about personal preference, lifestyle, and taste.  It’s what allows me to say no to low rise jeans that I can’t quite stuff myself into or stiletto heals that weren’t meant for chasing toddlers.

Some fads are fun, but thank goodness for the sense of style.