When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

I grew up in a generation where how you looked and "showed up" in life was very important. This has had lasting effects on me… some good, but mostly not so good.

Because of the “not so good”, the piece below has always resonated with me. My gut says that it will also resonate with many of you, given that so many of us have been, or are, weighed down with things that keep us small.

I thought that sharing it with you on International Women’s Day would be timely, given its liberating nature. My only caveat is that we don’t need to wait until we are old women to wear purple ;-)

Promise me you won’t wait.

Warning
By Jenny Joseph

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 the 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 practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Here’s to starting now :) Happy International Women’s Day!

Warm regards,

gillian xx
gbwellness.ca
gillian@gbwellness.ca

PS - Note that my interpretation of this poem is a bit different from from what inspired the author, Jenny Joseph, to write it. But that's the beauty of these things... we each take away what feeds us most.