Red Hat Society - defining playfulness

 

 When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me,
And I shall spend my pension
on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals,
and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired,
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells,
And run my stick along the public railings,
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens,
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat,
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go,
Or only bread and pickle for a week,
And hoard pens and pencils and beer mats
and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry,
And pay our rent and not swear in the street,
And set a good example for the children.
We will have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practise a little now?

So people who know me
are not too shocked and surprised,
When suddenly I am old
and start to wear purple!

Jenny Joseph

Once again, A Place for Mom  blog features a great posting, this time on the Red Hat Society & women in senior communities.  Still, it made me pause.  I'm looking into the Red Hat Society because it seems a good fit for present & future clients, but my hope would be that they'd join a group outside of their senior communities.  

Seems to me that the greatest use of belonging to a Red Hat Society chapter is meeting new, different people, to expand beyond your circle of friends & pleasant acquaintances.  If my older friends belonged to chapters based where they live, they'd get out to new, fun places with other women they know, which is fine if fun experiences with familiar folks is your goal.  Would feel the same way about a Red Hat chapter that included only good & best friends, or just people who attend the same church or graduated from the same school.  Fun, yes.  But expansive?  Not so much.


To me, the Red Hat Society embodies living expansively.  It's about inspired frivolity, fun for the sake of fun.  And going beyond our borders.  Getting OUT, into a fresh environment with people you don't see every day or even every week.  It's adventure & exploring, kicking up heels & having a grand time. Being outside of where you live, outside of YOU.

The Red Hat Society is dedicated to nurturing the Five Fs -  Fun, Friendship, Freedom. Fulfillment. Fitness.  What a fabulous code of conduct!  And one that I highly recommend for any of my older friends.  

If the only way it can work as a chapter within a senior community, then so be it - have a grand time!   But oh how I hope that an older woman can find someone to help her join a chapter that has nothing to do with where she lives, that gets her out into a fully fresh environment with people she doesn't see all the time, where she can sit down on the pavement when tired,  gobble up samples in shops, and maybe even learn to spit!