My Marilyn Monroe Moment!

Its funny how memories, especially embarrassing ones can turn into harmless present-day giggles.

Sundays! No not a lazy day at all. We had to wake up early and be in church for Sunday mass at 7:00 am.

I was thirteen and while I ironed my flowy knee-length dress the previous night, I grumbled. I slept off and woke up – not with the alarm, not with the repeated yelling of my parents. I woke up only when my mum put the fan off. I had no option but to get up and freshen up in the hot summer morning.

My off-guard moment

I rushed out of the house because I didn’t want to be late. Not that I was too religious (doesn’t mean I wasn’t though!) but because if it all I entered late, my heels would have gone click and clack in the church while the mass was on and everything was silent.

So to save myself of the embarrassment I rushed. I walked down the uneven road with my high heels getting stuck sometimes in the mud and sometimes between pebbles. But I kept walking because now I had to finish off with the long walk on the pathway that was beside the field. No, there were no wild animals. Laughing hyenas would come there only at night. It was 6.30 am and a huge group of boys would be playing football on that field. While the players would be playing, there would be some who would sit on the steps between the pathway and the field. I was quite conscious at that age unlike my present ‘I care a damn attitude.’

The weather was windy. From a distance, I saw nobody was sitting on the steps. I was happy. I started walking faster. My hair blew with the wind. The pathway was canopied with green trees. I tried to tuck my hair behind my ears. Suddenly, a strong wind blew and there went my flowy dress over my face. I was frozen. I was nervous. Hurriedly and ashamed, I removed my dress from my face and by the time I tried holding the front portion of the dress, the back part flew high up almost like a hood over my head.

Gosh! I pulled my dress down with both my hands and held it tightly in my fist on either sides. My hair was tossed up as if I had survived a ship wreck. I looked around to see if anyone had seen what had happened. I saw the boys were still playing and the others had their eyes on the match that was going on. But you never know who might have stolen a look! So I walked faster, cursing myself, my fate, my heels and my dress.  I sat in church feeling so embarrassed.

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A gusty repeat

Three years back, the day I was discharged from the hospital after delivering my baby, I wore a similar knee-length flowy maternity dress. I walked out with my baby in my arms. At the exit door of the hospital building, in the hot month of May, I got a fleeting moment of fulfillment. The exit door opened with a blast of cold air and I felt the cool air rushing through my thighs and up to my stomach. Oh! It felt so good. By the time I realized why I felt so cold in my stomach, I had already had my second ‘Marilyn Monroe Moment!’

My dress was up. My hands were busy holding my baby, so all I could do was to just walk across without looking around to check who had caught a glimpse of me. Of course I had a hundred viewers! The hospital had many people around. I sat in the car, not embarrassed but giggling.

May be if I didn’t have my baby in my arms, I could’ve flirtatiously posed, holding my dress with my hand, in the sudden gust of wind because C’mon, who gets to pose like Marilyn Monroe daily!

Authors’Note: Dear Readers, Do share your Marilyn Monroe moments too here. It will be fun to know! Keep your comments flowing in. Thank you for reading. Much love ❤

Image source: Unsplash

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