Walk in wardrobes and butterflies

Can one person be so excited about a prospect?

We have been living in the same house for a couple of years.  After moving back from Australia I had only a handful of shoes.  OK, I tell a lie, 30 odd pairs that I held in my hands and after carefully weighing up, deemed worthy of sending across the waters at the cost of an average lung in the Ukraine.  I had some basic clothes, same story, stuff that I could fit into a couple of suitcases.  The cupboard space in the master bedroom seemed more than ample to house my (ever) growing wardrobe, a top here, and a pair of shoes there.  The couriers from the online shops here in SA mostly know me by name. 

My super power is the ability to know exactly what something from an online store would look like on me, what I can pair it with, whether it would fit, a rare skill, I admit, but this took years of returns to the online stores, collected by my same courier friends.  I have a list in my head of brands where I need to buy the shoe a size bigger or smaller, some of them even differ within the same brand but with different styles (stilettos must generally be bought a size bigger than sneakers, sneakers a size smaller than very high heeled strappy sandals, boots depend on whether they are calf length, ankle variety and so on and so forth, ask if you need help or further clarification).

So after years of living within the constraints of my existing inadequate cupboards, it seems as if I am finally getting a walk in wardrobe, not the Carry Bradshaw version, but my own Midstream Estate version, 'Sex-in-the-City light' if you will.  Oh imagine the possibilities.  My shoe collection (that I try and keep at a manageable 200 pairs) can finally move out of the linen cupboards to their own special room, imagine the duvet covers and towels that we can now buy because of the space problem being solved.  The kids may even get winter sheets this year as there could be space for their summer stuff.  

I think the wardrobe needs to be colour co-ordinated, this may not be the big problem that it seems to be as I mostly wear black.  The amazing thing is that there will, keeping fingers crossed, be room for the summer, autumn, winter and spring collections in the same room!  Think of the possibilities and the mix and match opportunities of combining some sheer spring fabrics with the chunkier winter stuff!  The boots with the summer dresses, the jeans with the spaghetti strap tops.  It’s enough to make a girl go online and order some more. 

I do foresee some issues in years to come as Luka seems to be my child, every time she does something ludicrous, Gerhard looks at me and says “that is your child, Liam is mine”.  It pained me to admit this for years and I often feel sorry for my parent’s years ago, because raising Luka is no easy task.  It starts with getting her dressed in the morning, I have often caught her slumped on the bed dramatically telling me she has nothing to wear.  Nothing to wear for a child who owns every tutu ever made and a dozen or so of friggen Princess Elsa from Frozen dresses.  A child who often pairs a tiara with a tutu and a Springbok rugby jersey when the pre-primary school, unreasonably so, forces her into wearing something that is not pink.  I often end up buying all of the pink ‘skorts’ that I can find in Luka’s petite size when I do manage to get them as the school prefers little girls to be in pants for play, Luka and her strong little will prefers skirts, so we settle on the ‘skort’. 

Luka will often wake up on a Saturday excited at the prospect of buying dresses and drinking coffee, and when asked what she wants to be when she grows up, answers a butterfly and a princess.  Sound career choices if you are Behati Prinsloo and earn your keep as a Victoria’s Secret model, less sound if you will probably be a tad taller than your mom stepping in at 1.61 meters tall. 

Luka is arty, playful, happily reigning in Luka-land, they know her well there and she often visits her subjects.  She asks me about our frogs in garden, where they are and why they refuse to play with her, we don’t have any frogs that I am aware of.  She asks about her Granny Nelly a lot, the granny that died as I fell pregnant with Luka, and the way that she talks about Granny Nelly makes you think that she actually knew this granny.  Luka will most probably not end up studying law like her mom or accounting like her dad and I have told Gerhard (repeatedly) that he must brace himself for the day that Luka comes home excited about finally figuring out that she does not want to study to be a butterfly, but that she plans on studying art, interior design, music or some weird frog language, because Luka is different, and that is all right too!

Upon mature reflection I think we should most probably build Luka a walk in wardrobe as well, I won’t have room for fairy wings and Barbie plastic high heels in mine after all.

Note: To all that studied art, interior design, music or frog language, please do not take offence, and please hug your parents when you next see them, for I firmly believe that raising an accountant must be much easier! To all my accountant friends, no offence.