Too Cute!

Our precious market rep just reported in passing that she just doesn't feel cute today and asked me if I had days like that. Days??? I looked her over. She's young, has long dark hair, the kind of eyes that romance novelists describe in paragraphs, and a smile big as Texas. I made a quick assessment and voted on her shoes/boots as being the offending factor of her "cute" quotient. They're clunky and round toed but comfortable. Back in the 20's or 30's, flappers looked cute in round toed shoes. I have old pictures of my dad's seven sisters wearing them. But I've never liked the style and having small feet, they made me look funny. I associate round toes with ugly saddle oxfords and orthopedic lace-ups.

I don't think too much about being cute these days. If my lipstick is on straight, I'm set to go. I remember feeling cute once in high school at the Senior Candy Dance (where we sold boxes of candy to raise money for polio or March of Dimes or something). I was a go-go dancer and we had these red sheath dresses with white fringe shimmying along the hemlines. I felt really cute that night. The cutest I believe I ever looked was at least 30 years ago...maybe closer to 35. I'd bought a darling slack set at the Diana Shop. It was white and had textured daisies on the top with colored centers. With my multi-colored flats and frosted hair, I felt "cute" with a capital C.

These days I've traded cute for comfort, elegance for elastic, and haute couture for hot flashes. I think I should make a run for cute at least once more. Maybe that 40th class reunion coming up. I'll work on that.