It's been fun seeing photos from that time so long ago, especially photos of friends, long before I knew them.
Jejune kindly scanned in a few photos for me this morning after I dug them out. For my 30th, my mum gave me an album of photos of me. Some scary, some hilarious, some touching. A life, so far, in one album. So much....bad hair; odd, often hand-me-down clothes; expressions that I can still read through the space of time and memory. Weird.
Anyhow, enough of that, I bring you me...pre-1985.
This was about 1977, maybe first grade. The cuddly dumpling next to me is Adele.
What kills me about this photo is that I can see I was actually quite a cute kid. Up close, I had lots of freckles but from an early age I was utterly convinced of my ugliness. Crippled by it, in fact. The feeling has never left me entirely but I do recall it being intensely strong in childhood.
What does a child know of ugliness? It breaks my heart now to think of it, to even write of it. We were both cute girls, I think. Just different.
I treasure this photo. Adele gave it to me, framed, years ago, hence the oval shape.
Secondly, this is me in 1984, on my 12th birthday. A party at my house that I remember was overwhelming. I still don't deal with parties for me very well, although I remember really wanting this party.
I choose this photo partly because I'm wearing something hand knitted. Fingerless gloves. This was the height of my Culture Club worship and that year, Boy George was wearing fingerless gloves. My friend Sarah-Jane made them for me. I was pretty damn happy with them. I believe I wore them for ages, and everywhere.Bells
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