Yesterday I had lunch with an ex-colleague, who, since we became ex-s, has become a friend. She's a wonderful woman who lives life to the full more than almost anyone else I know. She did more last week than I've done since 2002. This weekend for instance she's off with her family and friends to Sea Bangor 2007, a maritime festival in Northern Ireland. They'll dress, painstakingly authentically, as pirates, re-enact some pirating on real tall ships using actual cannons and generally have a good time. Last weekend she played viola in an orchestra visit to the Isle of Coll, (Inner Hebridean island), next week it's a dance workshop in preparation for a Regency themed ball, after throwing a barbeque for some visiting Russian friends and taking her son to auditions for Junior Mastermind. And running her own very successful translation service.
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I'm exhausted just typing it. How do people become such wonderfully free spirits that they can let go of their lives so easily in order to live them so fully? It's made me think about how tightly I've been holding on to the details of my life in recent years.
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Nick reminded me of the Unbearable Lightness of Being. The gist, for me, being that life has no value, weight or meaning other than that which we construct or accept for it ourselves.
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So, in the spirit of living a bit more freely I've accepted her invitation to a commemoration of the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans at Holyrood, Edinburgh in September. I have to make a dress from a contemporary pattern and materials, learn to dance a la mode and get into character as a comely whore (don't know which'll be the most taxing). Two days of partying and carousing and being on display, meeting new people and generally letting go.
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I've never done anything like this before and I already feel inspired to try more and more new things until I start to forget to remember to hold onto the life I have and to live the life I could have if I let myself, again.
4 comments:
Didn't know about Sea Bangor 2007 - must try and get to it.
I reminded you of the amazing Unbearable Lightness of Being? Goodness, I'm very flattered. But yes I can also be quite paralysed sometimes by the weight of the decisions I have to make. And believe me I understand about holding on too much instead of letting go.
Hi nick, yes in your post about the guy who bought the bike and died the next day and was that a happy thing or a sad thing.
Watch out for pirates!
The 1745 party at Holyrood sounds exciting. I love Edinburgh! Only been inside on the tour, to be a guest at a party sounds wonderful, and in period dress! I was formally trained as a costume historian many, many years ago. I took patterns from dresses from that period although, frankly, I never learned how to sew. Are you sewing your dress yourself? You might want to try "Patterns of Fashion" by Janet Arnold. It's a series of books with patterns taken from actual historical garments. One book is about 18th century garments. Will you post a picture of your dress when it's finished?
The ball sounds exciting, though your friend's Regency ball sounds great too. The Regency/Empire/Federal Neoclassical period is my favorite period of fashion and decorative arts.
nowheregirl, that's so impressive.
Thanks for the Janet Arnold tip. I can cut from patterns and sew, but I'm going to see someone locally who will make up the pattern for me so I'll mention that book to her.
I don't have a digital camera, but I'm sure I'll be able to get photos from someone else there and post one or two.
Had a really interesting conversation about women's fashion through the ages and how it corresponds to the social status of women through history and we were wondering what today's Western dress codes say about our current standing?
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