Page 140 - She's One Crazy Lady!

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You know, t“
Laughter was what we needed. I even bought myself some new scarves but then went against the idea remembering how I felt when I was out and about and saw ladies wearing them, thinking to myself that such headgear was a give-away to the fact that the person wearing one was possibly a cancer patient. I say, possibly, for I know there are many reasons why people should wear one. I didn’t want to feature in that category, despite telling myself that everyone has a choice and that some ladies looked stunning. Somehow, I knew I just didn’t have the face to look good, knowing I would feel so self-conscious. I never did wear any kind of bandana, but applaud patients who do. In the past twenty years styles have certainly changed and improved and there are some very trendy ones to be had.
It was a dilemma – a dilemma that had to be faced.
Back to Debenhams, now, like many of the old-fashioned and much-loved High Street stores, sadly closed. Marilyn and I did not enter the store with the intention of trying on hats but as their hat department faced us when we walked in, we impulsively had to try some on as, naturally, we had talked about my potential hair loss.
he children at school would love this! They could wear hats too. They could design and make a hat to wear, and we could organise a Mufti Day where they each pay 50p, or whatever, for the privilege of
All I can say is that it would not have surprised us if we had been asked to leave. We tried virtually every hat on, looking at each other for approval, or not, looking in the mirrors and being very dramatic in our moves and gestures. We were laughing so, so much, oblivious of the stares and raised eyebrows from passing customers and the staff. Two middle-aged women acting in such a crazy way. What were we thinking of? The sales staff, who normally come up and ask if you need any help, sensibly left us alone.
Years later, I can’t imagine what ‘everyone’ thought of us when Marilyn and I changed the words to the well-known song: “Where did you get that hat?” to fit in with what we were doing and actually, much later, performed on stage, the actions of us trying the hats on in Debenhams at a ‘Celebration of Life’ concert we put on in Corby and then – in front of an audience of top consultants and patients at a dinner and dance in Leicester! Oh, my word! Again, what were we thinking of? Oh, the embarrassment! As I say, sometimes you have to be a little crazy – and we were!
It was whilst trying hats on that the lightbulb moment happened. I’m not sure which hat I had on, but whatever it was, I turned to Marilyn, lost in thought. Our eyes met.
“You’re going to do something with that hat aren’t you, Glennis?” she stated.
Hmmm! My mind buzzing.
Still with the hat on my head I launched into a very spur-of-the-mo- ment spiel:
“You know, the children at school would love this! They could wear hats too. They could design and make a hat to wear, and we could organise a Mufti Day where they each pay 50p, or whatever, for the privilege of wearing one, with any money raised donated to support the
wearing o”
ne.