Tuesday, May 8, 2012

MY MOTHER'S DRESSING TABLE


My mother went through several phases in her life only one of which was being a mother.
I still remember the day I was told to call her " mother " instead of Mommy

There were 5 kids, I was the oldest daughter and 10 years older than my youngest brother.
One of my vivid memories was walking into our church with her huge and pregnant being so embarrassed that everyone "knew" what my parents had been "up to"!

At one time she was an interior decorator and had two shops in two towns.

She was quite beautiful and very social.  She and my dad would often eat dinner at the country club in Perryton.  It was great fun for us to choose our tv dinner and look forward to a night at home without them.  Somehow she made it seem like we were the ones having fun with a babysitter.

On those nights I would stand at her side and watch her dress.
She was so pretty and so off in her own world of dressing--looking forward to what I realize now was a great luxury of a night away from 5 rambunctious children.

She had lovely dark skin and dark hair.  
On her dressing table she always had a large bottle of
which she would splash liberally on her neck.  I stood close by, hoping to have a splash land on me so I could smell like her the rest of the evening.

She would carefully apply her makeup, which was quite dramatic.  I watched her every move.
The smoke from her cigarette swirled above her and I always thought one day I would smoke just like she did.  I never did.  She still does.

Dark eyes, dark lip liner, orange frosted lipstick...
 and then we came to the falsie section

yes, she needed these and wouldn't leave home without them

yes, she also looked better with these

she had at least 6 of these in all styles...just in case



and even though she had nice nails there were always some of these on hand too

I can't really remember my dad dressing...I'm sure he dashed in from some rig somewhere and changed his clothes and off they went in our station wagon with wood on the sides.

That part of our life was so Dean Martin, double olive martini, non filter Pall Mall, Coco Chanel and romantic nostalgic

To this day she still has the same dressing table and maybe even the same bottle of Chanel 5...gathering dust...because she moved on to a different part of her life which does not include perfume and makeup and dating my dad...

but she is still in a very interesting phase 
and from a different vantage point I still stand behind her 
and watch her every move in awe

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7 comments:

LA VIE EN ROSE said...

Lovely follow on post! Your mother sounds like a fascinating person. Glamourous and intriguing.

Sharon

Musings From A French Cottage said...

What a beautiful story. I enjoyed the previous post as well!

I love the way that you write and I have really enjoyed reading through your posts.

Have a great week and thank you so much for visiting me!

God Bless,
Kathleen

chateau chic said...

It's great to have such special memories of your Mom.
You have a wonderful writing style ~ keeps the reader wanting more!
Mary Alice

art nouveau said...

Ι am impressed with these beautiful
words that describes your lovely mother...!!Obviously you love her a lot!!I assume she is very interesting person and very elegant!!Sharing this with us was very kind of you !I enjoyed every word of it!!Have a nice day my dear!!xx

Rustic Vintage Country said...

Lovely story. Thanks for following me. Suzy x

heather @ new house, new home, new life said...

There's nothing like seeing your mother transformed into a beauty for a special night out - I fondly remember my mother's 60's crimplene dresses, her teased hair and the liquid eyeliner. Her favorite fragrance was "My Sin" and I can still smell it. Thanks for posting this wonderful memory - gets us all thinking about our younger mothers.

Geneva said...

You have such wonderful memories of your mother and have done a beautiful job sharing them. Have you ever thought about writing a book? You have the talent ":o)
Blessings!
Geneva