As the world circles back to deeming that cycling shorts, corduroys, and over-sized blazers are sought after fashion choices, I am reflecting on how I have changed since loving these fashion choices in the 80’s. I graduated in 1986 and loved to spend time with my friends cruising the drag on the streets of Missoula and Hamilton, Montana meeting other teenagers and seeing everyone and everything that was happening. Coming home at midnight or 1:00 a.m. put a real crimp in my style and if there was an opportunity to be out late with friends doing “teenage stuff,” I was all in regardless of the night of the week. Fueled with $20 and an Orange Julius, I loved shopping for hours and hours with the crowds at Southgate Mall in Missoula. Being with friends at the roller rink in Hamilton, MT with the music blaring and disco lights flashing was a perfect Friday night. I used a cigarette lighter to melt up my eyeliner to get it applied heavy and smooth, and the more hairspray used the better hair height and holding power.
Forty years have passed, and I am now in the Walmart parking lot each Saturday morning at 5:58 a.m. waiting for the doors to open at 6:00 a.m., so I can avoid the crowds and not have to run into people I do not want to see. Let us be clear on my avoidance technique, it is no one person I am avoiding, it is all people I am avoiding. I like to see the empty parking lot at this time of day because it makes me feel accomplished and savvy to get the trip out of the way while having to endure the least amount of discomfort possible. Besides, it is not like I am not awake drinking coffee at 5:00 a.m. and ready for the day to start.
My style is no longer crimped by having to be in my home and in bed at an early hour. I like to go to bed before 9:00 p.m. and if you text me after about 8:00 p.m., then you will get a response around 4:30 a.m. I will actively work to find reasons to cancel weeknight obligations and most times, I find that going out on a Saturday or Sunday night is unnecessary. On occasional evenings, I can be coaxed out of the house for a walk, to go to the gym, or even have dinner out but this does not happen often. You never know when the weather is going to turn on you, the crowds can be unpredictable in Miles City, Montana, and I have Instagram reels to find and send back and forth to friends and family.
Watching, identifying, and telling my husband and sister-in-law about birds visiting my birdfeeders have replaced the interest I had in roller-skating to disco music, shopping in public and drinking Orange Julius drinks. I am extremely interested in my birds and have gone as far as to attempt to domesticate a pheasant rooster who roams our neighborhood. My friend gave me cracked corn for him, and he loves to stop by the house in the early mornings and evenings for cracked corn. I have named the rooster Finnegan, and he is such a good boy.
I may think about buying a pair of cords or a boxy blazer when autumn rolls back around and will purchase them online. I will not be looking at cycling shorts though, unless I am in a cycling class and that class will have to be at 6:30 a.m., not 6:30 p.m. It amuses me to see fashion choices reappear every ten years and when they do reappear, they are met with an older version of me that may or may not be so receptive to them anymore. I still like the memories that revolving fashion choices can evoke, except for flaming up my eye liner prior to use. There is no room in my life for melted Maybelline anymore.
