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Published on November 12, 2018
Comments 39

I met one of my un-lived lives at a party last night

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I may be over 50 but I love my Doc Marten boots

These boots were made for walking #docmartens #punk #over50 #cool @boneAndsilver

She was tall, nearly 6 foot, and her long strong legs ended in tartan Doc Marten boots. Her outfit was various shades and textures of black: cotton cut-off shorts, ripped lace tights, fishnet top over a lycra bikini halter neck, and finished with a belt made from an old horse bridle, including the rusty snaffle bit.

Her hair was shaved at the sides, but long and part-dreaded down her back; the delicate sequinned handbag was the perfect match to multiple silver earrings and nose hoop.

A friend told me her name was Lizzie, and that she played keyboards in a local punk band.

*sigh

That could have been me.

All right, 25 years ago, yes, but still- I could have lived that life. Just a slightly shorter-statued version perhaps.

I was mesmerised, watching her stomp round the art opening in those big boots; suddenly my own 60’s outfit with 70’s leather boots seemed tame. I wanted to be in a band, sneering at normal dress conventions. I had complete ‘punk lifestyle envy’, and felt the urge to be living in an anarchistic share house, hassling for gigs, notoriety, hand rolled cigarettes, skull accessories, and a sense of complete freedom, sleeping with whoever I wanted, and laughing at expectations like jobs, marriage, or even children!

*sigh

No less than 4 people approached me during the evening, to compliment my vintage dress, with one woman delighting in its similarity to seersucker tablecloths, including stains; however the praise fell on deaf ears.

Was it really too late for me to embody that alternative careless, carefree, charismatic persona?

Then I remembered I hadn’t yet transferred over the latest mortgage payment, that my 18-yr old son would soon be home clamouring for dinner, and that this weekend was probably my last chance to sand and oil the front deck before it got too mouldy.

*deeper sigh

What’s one of your ‘un-lived’ lives? What would you wear, and how would you spend your time? 

In gratitude for flights of fancy, and Doc Marten boots, G xO 

39 Comments

  1. Dewy says

    Reality sucks 😊 but then you wouldn’t have had your gorgeous son. I don’t know may be no band but wandering around like a nomad. No home.

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  4. Coyote from Orion says

    So… there would be another awesome version of you?
    Seems a lot like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
    Hmmm…

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  5. Unleashing the Cougar says

    That was very similar to an actual former life of my own – insert new wave instead of punk and lots of raucous post-punk hair colour instead of dreads and it would have been me 😉 You still rock it in your own way G and no one will ever call you staid or boring 🙂

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  6. All About Life says

    The clothes don’t maketh the woman ;O)
    I think my unlived life was as a cowgirl – hurtling about on horses all day and living in jeans and t-shirts but with cool boots and a fab hat :O)

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  7. Trace-Blogs says

    I recently bought a pair of Docs! I got them for work. A teenager told me my shoes were cool! (They’re too expensive for teenagers). There is no reason why you can’t go and get those Docs. I can totally see you in them! And perhaps a variation of the ripped black things? x

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    • bone&silver says

      Trace, you are very sweet- I did in fact buy those DMs 2nd hand just recently; I will pair them with a nice clean black dress, and bring my punk attitude 😉

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  8. cathytea says

    I’ve begun to suspect recently my being on the autism spectrum , so my unlived life is that of social ease and friendship. 59, and I still have trouble getting past “friendly acquaintance.” When I’m in situations where I don’t have to camouflage , I can fully enjoy my gifts , of which are bliss and immersion in love of life and the sacred. Always thought it would be nice to have easy friendships , though. I guess the trade-off is worth it, for I love the richness of being me. But wouldn’t it be amazing to have both , my own neuro-divergence AND friends? Wouldn’t it be fun for you to be an iconoclast AND a mom and homeowner ? You’re an awesome, beautiful rebel exactly as you are , and I love you !

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    • bone&silver says

      Cathy, that’s amazing: at least 2 or 3 of my dear friends have social anxiety, so I feel for them and you, and the autism spectrum is a long, wide scale upon which we all slide I reckon (don’t ask me how many times I wash my hands a day, or tidy up leaflets into straight lines at the doctors!) Yes, I’d wish for you your gifts as they are, with the addition of ease- we all want that. Thank you for appreciating my rebelliousness so much 🙂 xOO

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  10. Widdershins says

    Heavens to Murgatriod … I felt a few flutterings as I read that first paragraph! 😀 … the old multiverse meanderings, eh? … OK, one of them could’ve been, but for that motorbike accident, a sports superstar. Picture Martina Navratilova but butchier, with a squash racquet. 🙂 … I think I could’ve been a great architect if I’d’ve been able to stomach the price I would’ve had to pay. I would’ve gone with the whole suit-n-tie look, a ‘la a young Katherine Hepburn, only butchier. 😀 … If I’d stayed with the playing-music-on-stage life I probably would’ve veered toward the kind of musical theatrics that the Divine Miss M made infamous in her wilder days, only butchier, a lot butchier! 😀 (I can still rattle off a few of her monologues from memory:) )

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    • bone&silver says

      Haha, I did think you’d enjoy that first couple of sentences, as I did writing them 😉
      Your other lives sound amazing; I can so easily picture them all, and am delighted to add ‘butchier’ to all of them too 😉
      “Multiverse meanderings” is a great way to put it, thanks 😀

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  11. lynnefisher says

    I think I’d be an actress or a dancer, wearing gorgeous vintage satins dripping with costume jewellery. Flamboyant and expressive, but also refined…1920s-1930s for me. I always go back to this period or earlier for these kind of unlived lives!

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    • bone&silver says

      Ooh yes, lovely! Have you seen that movie with Owen Wilson by Woody Allen about going back in time in Paris? Some wonderful scenes in that re the 20s & 30s! Not to mention the Great Gatsby of course. Thank you for commenting 😊😃

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  12. Ellen Hawley says

    Yeah, the ones we didn’t live are always less complicated and have more whatever it is that appeals to us. They’re the ones where the kitchen table never gets sticky, the mortgage (or rent) never needs to be paid, and the dog doesn’t throw up on the rug.

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  14. EvelynKrieger says

    I’d be in my astronaut suit flying to the moon. I wrote a recent post about this childhood ambition thwarted by my fear of heights…and flying. What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

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    • bone&silver says

      Good question Evelyn- fear holds us back from so much. I’d like to have been Madonna, if I wasn’t afraid I was such a poor singer haha

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  15. The Lockwood Echo says

    In my unlived life I’d live on the beach. Well, in a house, but as close to the sea as possible 😉 I’d have a hippie lifestyle and make money from something creative. I’d keep it rockchick at heart, so there’d be plenty of music but I’d be more outgoing and relaxed socially. Of course, in my unlived life, I’d have the legs for a beach lifestyle 😉

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  17. Claire says

    I always wished I had the toughness and conviction to be a fully fledged, angry anarchic punk. I only made it to goth (still clinging on…) That said, I would not trade it! The goths have been a wonderful ‘church’ for me. And, now I think a bit more… I could have also become a Melbourne corporate type so… swings and roundabouts. 😉

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