So . . .you like red???

You might call it a rite of passage.  That sort of thing usually happens before one is 74 years of age.

I'm happily sporting a new jacket.

The fun part of the jacket is that it was a dress, a hand-me-down from my friend,  Jean Gilmore.  It's a heavy wool jacket and when it was a dress I may not have been able to wear it more than once so I was delighted when the idea to have it repurposed came into my head.

It's a jacket, not a full-length coat.  It's wool, not suede.

And yet it reminds me of the time that I was headed to college in Tennessee and my mother purchased me a beautiful suede coat.  It was red.

I hated it!

Fast forward many years.

My mother doesn't like the color red.  And what she really doesn't like (or didn't when she was quick to give an opinion) is when I wear red.

How does that happen?  How does "I don't like that" when a person is a child or young adult become something that is a favorite in later years.  And did I not like that suede coat that I took to college as a form of rebellion?  

I've only recently identified that to be a possibility.

For the longest time, I cringed when I felt that my mother was being critical of me when I was wearing red.  Somehow she has begun to feel that red is an angry color.  And she never wanted me to look angry.  Truth be told she really never wanted me to act angry, but that's a different story.

There was a time, really not so long ago, when I would shy away from wearing red when I was going to see my mother.  However, I've finally determined that my mother and I do not have to agree on everything in order to have a good relationship.  Mothers and daughters are allowed to have different tastes and even ideals.

I've been a mother of a daughter for almost 50 years.  We do not agree on everything.  Fortunately for both Becca and her sister, Renee I learned that earlier.  I believe that it is totally acceptable for them not to think just like me.  In fact, I celebrate it.    

I'm pretty sure I'll wear my red jacket when I visit my mother soon. I'll let you know what she says.