Lately on my morning run, I see two women of a certain age, strolling, with beautiful scarves wrapped around their heads, Caribbean style.
You see them like lights a half a mile away, their colors brushing the Park’s landscape like oil paint.
When we pass each other, we smile and nod, silently sharing the gifts of early morning…the coolness, the quiet, except for birdsong that plays softly above our heads.
After my run, I decide to clean my scarf drawer, no doubt inspired by them, though I don’t wear them the same way, I too own quite a few.
As I sort and refold, I come upon three my late friend Jackie had given me.
She was never without one around her neck, French style, teaching me at a tender age, it’s a nice touch to any outfit.
I think of the smiling women ambling down the hill, happy in their pressed, loose shifts allowing their bodies the freedom to be what they are without shame or restraint, simple sandals on their feet, big bags yet to be filled with the day’s bounty.
When I see them again, I give them each a scarf.
They’re surprised but pleased, accepting them with a girlish, giggly delight.
The next morning when I see them, they have them on glistening in the sunshine. One, a lemon yellow, the other, a blushing pink.
Their smiles could melt ice, matching mine, as we stand along Hamilton Heights preening in approval.
But when I get home, a wave of melancholia sweeps over me like a sudden T-storm, thinking of Jackie.
Was it wrong of me to give those scarves away?
I go and get the one that’s left, tying it loosely around my neck, the blue, red and green laced with white playing peekaboo in the mirror.
“All you need is one of anything that you love,” I hear Jackie say.
My heart settles, the gloom lifts, as I think of three women now, not two, honoring a woman who at 20, schooled me in simple style.
I’ve been wearing mine everyday around my neck, just the way she taught me.
A perfect way to remember my good friend I know is smiling at me from the ether, no doubt wearing hers.
SB
I’m so glad your gloom lifted. You were so very generous to the two women, and they were thrilled. Since you’ve published the story, it will live on and be shared many times, blessing others.
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I’ve never been as attached to material things as perhaps I should be. I’m always giving things away. I learned how ephemeral things are when I went to my first pre auction and saw how perfect strangers ogled and manhandled someone’s precious things minus any care of feeling. It left an impression.
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I think you are very sane and balanced about material things. We should all be so free!
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It’s not as if I don’t love what I have, I do, but I try not to hold on too tightly.
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I think you are highly unusual. It’s a laudatory ideal to let things go, but not many of us can do it. Your words are haunting me a bit. I’m going to try to be aware of things I’m holding too tightly and see if I could let them go. Thanks for the challenge.
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I remember going to see Aileen Mehle’s belongings at Doyle’s auction house. She was a famous columnist for the Daily News and New York Post, among other periodicals. She had lovely things, and you can see, without her, all the life was gone out of them. Over weight women were trying on her fur coats, eating bagels and pastry, because they had a buffet. Her books were thrown into a box. It really left an impression. Objects only come alive with the person who loves them. I’m rambling but, I always think…they’re just inanimate things that will outlive us.
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That’s a lovely observation that objects only come alive with the person who loves them. It’s true, but I never thought about it.
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You’re so kind to take my remarks to heart the way that you do.
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You have examined things I never questioned. Beneath your excellent stories and light banter is a keen mind that I greatly admire.
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Oh my…maybe I should leave it to science. They’d have a field day…like a giant pinata.
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You think they’d have fun batting you about?
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They’d find all kinds of things I’ve misplaced, like that gold hoop that mysteriously disappeared.
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Losing things in your mind is better than losing your mind.
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Mind you, that’s very true. 🙂
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Remind me about it!
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Okay, since a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
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Gray matters!
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That’s why they’re 50 shades of it.
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LOL! Good one!
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You’re still the master. 🙂
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I don’t want to be a mistress!
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How bout a Geisha? 🙂
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Obi easy on me! My feet are too big to allow me to be a geisha.
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So I guess that means you’re. hands on. 🙂
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What a lovely thing to do, Susannah. I think Jackie would definitely approve of your urge to share with these two women. You saw them, you admired them and you let them know by giving such a beautiful gift. A random act of kindness is never a bad thing.
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Agreed. I just saw them now. Their smiles have grown wider. 🙂
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It’s a beautiful thing
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My cousin and good friend (3 weeks older) taught me that it’s better to have a few good quality items than a lot of pieces that don’t hold up. She also bought me my first Barbie doll when they came out. I hadn’t heard of them yet. She pilfered couch money and coins from her father’s giant plastic soda bottle stash. She wished me a happy birthday in the morning (July 15th) and passed away unexpectedly that afternoon. Like you and I, she was a lover of books, which we shared back and forth. As I share her books with others now, I’ll think of Anne. Just as sharing Jackie’s scarves honors her memory..
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What a lovely story and HAPPY BIRTHDAY SKINNY…Mine was yesterday so I guess that means we’re just a coupla crabs. 🙂
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Happy belated birthday to you! I wonder if all the candles on our cakes are responsible for the heat wave, ha ha!
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Now that’s a thought.
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A lovely thing to do, Susannah. Your friend Jackie is very pleased I’m sure. No hint about your birthday until I read your reply to Skinny. Happy Birthday..
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Oh thanks. I don’t celebrate really. I only mentioned it because of Skinny.
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Yeah, ok.
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You’re kind though to wish me well. 🙂
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I do get not celebrating though. Here take some cake.🎂
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Well, cake of course is accepted under all circumstances. 🙂
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That’s what I thought too. 😁
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We’re healthy specimens, we are.
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I may be a little too healthy a specimen. 😁
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Never too healthy.
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Well, my pants still fit so thereis that.
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Happy Birthday, Susannah! That was a sweet gifting to those two; they’ll always remember you. You’ll never know where those two scarves journey but I somehow think they’ll always have a special significance! I was once the secretary of a christian student center…loved working w/the students. One lonely, lost young Freshman girl grabbed my heart – I gave her something of mine one day which put some sunshine in her life. I ran into her 40 yrs later…she recognized me… hugged me…told me what I had done for her all those years ago helped change her life. Such a small thing can raise one way up. You did something wonderful with your scarves…Jackie must be so happy. A lovely experience and thanks for writing about it…sharing it.
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Thanks Vasca. 🙂
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A wonderful memory and a wonderful way to remember your friend. Those scarves you gave to the two women will extend your memory much further.
Couple of other things … when I run or hike or walk I’m the guy who says hello or good morning or nods my head to every person I pass. So many people seem surprised by it. I aim to chance that surprise.
And … give me the names of a couple of good books you recommend. I know you’ve provided me some in earlier book exchanges, but I need them again. Also, you have books you’ve written. Which one should I start with? 😉
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If you go to my homepage, I always have a reading list. I loved the Poldark series by Winston Graham. Since the pandammit, I’ve read like a lunatic. A book I think I told you about was, Is Paris Burning. I loved it. It’s at the end of the German occupation in Paris, and how Hitler wanted his men to destroy it, but didn’t, waiting for us to come marching in. It kicks in right away. It’s not a new book, but it’s great.
Because of you, I reread, Assassination Vacation, and loved it all over again. She has a book of essays I liked called, Take the Cannoli. Have you ever read any Anthony Bourdain? You like to cook. Kitchen Confidential is pretty great, but my favorite of his is Medium Raw. Nasty Bits is good too. He was a great writer. Smooth prose, irreverent, funny. I miss him a lot.
God Midget, I can go on and on.
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And now that I asked you for your recommendations … again, I went and did it … again. I bought a couple of books on Amazon that aren’t on your list, but … a Butch Cassidy biography. Why? Because, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is and always will be one of my all time favorite movies and I thought it would be interesting.
And, I got The King of Confidence — about a guy who was Mormon and after Joseph Smith’s murder, this guy formed his own little Mormon enclave, complete with polygamy, murder and all sorts of things.
Both are the kinds of history I enjoy — quirky individuals who did things, and along the way hopefully, both books will also will reveal more about the general tone of life at the time.
And then … now that I know you have a list on your blog, I will be back to that list in the near future.
As much as I like to cook, I’ve never read Anthony Bourdain. So many people worship him, but I’ve always been turned off by what I perceived as his arrogance (and I could be completely wrong about that perception). I will give him a try at some point.
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What you perceive as arrogance, I take as confidence. He had it tough in the beginning…an active addict for starters, working on his feet 15 hours a day in hot kitchens. He wasn’t always the Food King exploring the world. I actually have a little framed photo of him in my kitchen I put up after he died. I still mourn for Tony, and his wonderful, engaging writing.
As far as reading what I read, ignore my suggestions. Reading after all, is very personal. I enjoy putting together that list twice a year, because I’m such a serial bibliophile hoping if nothing else, it will encourage others to pick up a book to their liking, like you just did.
Think before you speak. Read before you think.” – Fran Lebowitz
Your fellow Reader
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PS I think it’s great you greet everybody. It’s a nice way to be.
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It’s one small thing I can do in my corner of the world.
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It’s a HUGE, small thing. 🙂
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Scarves are a woman’s way of telling a man “You’re in the big leagues now, honey. So act like you belong here why dontcha?”
And Jackie would have LOVED what you did, I just know it. You simple extended the branches of her life to others, and that’s just a beautiful thing. We need more of this inside times that give us so little.
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She was so generous, so you’re right. Though no longer here, she still bears fruit.
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You did her proud.
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I miss her more than I can say. She was older than me, and I so looked up to her.
Imagine a French woman, who acted like Annie Hall. She was amazing. Anyway, as Johnny Depp said, after his pal, Hunter Thompson…born the same day as me, said, We will meet again. sigh
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She sounds like a wonderful person, SB. You learned your lessons well. 🙂
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She was swell, on all fronts. Funny as hell.
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I think Jackie had a great smile from your kind gesture! Meanwhile, I can see you in a scarf … after all, that’s very much your inner Audrey.
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That’s a nice way to put it. In France, every woman wears a scarf. Doesn’t matter who she is or what she does. It would be like leaving the house without her shoes.
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😊
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Good morning Frank. It’s always nice to hear from you. Very hot in these parts.
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That was a sweet gesture. I’m sure Jackie would have been pleased.
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I hope so. 🙂
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