Back in the day

Speaking of my mother, she passed away in 2008. I think of her often and know she would have LOVED having all this perfume around, perfume coming and going, it's sniff fest around here. She'd be having a ball right along with me. I probably wouldn't be able to sell any of it! Sure we had perfumes when she was alive, she had a modest collection herself. Several years ago (and before she became ill) I was always going shopping on my days off and would pick up things on sale, bargains and such. Actually, me and my mother did a lot of shopping together, mostly clothes and things for the house, flea markets and second hand stores. My more favorite memories of us would be the ones of us out and about shopping. When I was 21 we went into the city for an afternoon of shopping and dinner out. I showed her around the city. She was probably wearing her Giorgio and I probably had on some patchouli or sandalwood. It was in July and boiling hot out, I remember the both of us resting and cooling off on a stoop, and people watching. Does anyone people watch anymore? I haven't done that in years. Who has time anymore to sit and watch the world go by?

My perfume craziness isn't a replacement for the loss of my mother. I do miss her terribly, but I'm not filling a void with the perfumes. Not that I'm aware of, and I've thought that one out before.

Back to the perfumes, if I brought one home and she took a liking to it, I'd have to go back and get a bottle for her. She had to have her own bottle. And she'd say things like, "I like this, it smells 'rich', like something a rich woman would wear." If I remember correctly that's what she said of Norell. When I smelled Van Cleef by VC&A I instantly thought of my mother, she would have loved that. Mitsouko, too. And Rumba by Balenciaga. Well, our tastes were usually along the same lines. Usually. She hated Sunflowers. She once said to me after I has sprayed on Sunflowers while in the other room, "You've got that stuff on again. It smells like a haystack." I don't recall washing it off before going out that time. I do remember giving away 2 bottles of Sunflowers to an aunt when I got tired of it.

The haystack comment, that was one of many several of her critical comments she'd use on me when I was about to go out. The others were:
"Have you got a bra on?"
"You're going out in that?"

"Where's the rest of your clothes?" (That one was used once, which was when I was about to emerge from the house to a night of drinking and clubbing wearing a bustier for a top. What the hell, Madonna and a couple of my friends were wearing them as tops. Mine was a black lace (not sheer) number, I also wore a long black wig with a pink streak, it was around Halloween 1989. I threw a black button-down sweater over it & left with her approval. An hour later, the sweater was dumped into a trash can downtown.)

 And the usual ones like,
"Those stripes make you look bigger than you are"
"That (add whatever article of clothing) doesn't do anything for you."

Although I wasn't crazy about her comments at the time, I kind of miss them now. I often wonder if my bra is doing what it's suppose to do and if what I'm wearing is flattering or not. I think my friends are too polite to say otherwise, and my husband knows better.