I've told this story a million times, so bear with me.
One of my favorite things to make is tiaras/crowns. I've made them for ritual wear, for weddings, for fuck-it-I-want-to-wear-a-crown, and I particularly love those sales; it's because those are going to someone who honestly does not give a fuck and is wearing my art because they love it.
But one.
Oh my goddess, this one.
A beautiful woman came up to my booth-- she was 80 if she was a day. Spent a while looking through all my stuff, and then ended up buying a crown.
Over the course of an hour or so of browsing (I have a TON of stuff in my booth, always... I miss most rummage sales because of faire schedule, so I sort of bring my own) she told me that she had raised some amazing number of children (six? Eight? this is going back a while) and while she LOVED raising her kids, they were great kids... she HATED going to the grocery store. And with that many kids, she was in there EVERY DAY.
She chose a tiara. She said to me "I hate the grocery store so very much, I'm going to wear this crown when I go. At my age they think I'm senile anyway, and it will cheer me up when I'm dealing with being in the goddamn grocery again."
Wearing her crown, she hobbled off on her cane, with a (niece? granddaughter?) hovering protectively.
Wear a crown to the grocery store. They'll think you're odd, but it will cheer you up. Dang, if I needed words to live by...
