The best mistake I ever made … I make lots of mistakes that are big, not sure about best. Once I wore mismatching shoes to work. I got new shoes out of the mistake!
From this mistake, I learned … to choose my clothes and shoes the night before going out and not to dress in the dark of my closet. I also learned Payless Shoes has good prices for a girl on a lunch break shopping trip.
When I’m anxious, I tell myself … breath. This too will pass.
All I really want to do is … wear purple and spit. Well, not exactly, but the line comes from a great poem about reaching the age of life when you are okay with doing what you want and when you want to do it. I'm there. [big grin creeps across face]
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
by Jenny Joseph, 1932
