{"id":1258,"date":"2008-08-07T09:45:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-07T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondblue\/2008\/08\/when-i-am-an-old-woman-i-shall.html"},"modified":"2008-08-07T09:45:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-07T09:45:00","slug":"when-i-am-an-old-woman-i-shall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2008\/08\/when-i-am-an-old-woman-i-shall.html","title":{"rendered":"When I Am an Old Woman, I Shall Wear … Fuchsia!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"redhatclub.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

You guys know all about the Red Hat Society,<\/a> right? The 50-and-older ladies all over town dressed in obnoxious purple outfits with red hats …\u00a0<\/p>\n

They are there, at the table next to you at lunch, telling long-winded stories to the waitress who hasn’t taken your order yet. They are in back of you at the ice-cream shop, giggling among themselves, as you’re threatening to take all TV privileges away from your son for sticking his cone in his sister’s face.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They are a reminder, always, to … HAVE MORE FUN.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Which is why, even if I seem annoyed by them, I am actually refreshed by their philosophy, based, of course, on the poem by Jenny Joseph, “When I Am an Old Woman.”<\/p>\n

Keep in mind, however, that I prefer fuchsia to purple. Because a psychic once told me that my aura was fuchsia. I don’t think she meant it as a compliment.<\/p>\n

When I Am an Old Woman\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
\nWith a red hat which doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.
\nAnd I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
\nAnd satin sandals and say we’ve no money for butter.
\nI shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired
\nAnd gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
\nAnd run my stick along public railings
\nAnd make up for the sobriety of my youth.<\/p>\n

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
\nAnd pick flowers in other people’s gardens
\nAnd learn to spit.
\nYou can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
\nAnd eat three pounds of sausages at a go
\nOr only bread and a pickle for a week
\nAnd hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes<\/p>\n

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
\nAnd pay our rent and not swear in the street
\nAnd set a good example for the children.
\nWe will have friends to dinner and read the papers.
\nBut maybe I ought to practice a little now?
\nSo people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
\nWhen suddenly I am old and start to wear purple.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To read more Beyond Blue, go to www.beliefnet.com\/beyondblue<\/a>, and to get to Group Beyond Blue, a support group at Beliefnet Community, click here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You guys know all about the Red Hat Society, right? The 50-and-older ladies all over town dressed in obnoxious purple outfits with red hats …\u00a0 They are there, at the table next to you at lunch, telling long-winded stories to the waitress who hasn’t taken your order yet. They are in back of you at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mental-health"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen I Am an Old Woman, I Shall Wear ... 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