28/08/2026
I will tell this story every year on her birthday.
How my dying friend taught me to live.
To shake off the ridiculous pressure women live under; like a coat that no longer fits, so restrictive.
Because in the end, none of it matters. What matters is this:
Did we become a person of love?
Did we find joy?
Did we hold open our arms to suffering & offer our presence?
She was wild, like fire & all I want is to scooch my chair closer to hers & ask her to tell me one of her stories.
Wrinkles, sagging skin & an expanding waist line was denied to her. So can we learn to see them as gifts? She longed for more time & what I wouldn’t give to be with her on her birthday, both of us, older.
So many women come out of my changerooms & tell me what they hate about their bodies. They tell me what they’d change. We say things like ‘I could never wear that, not with this body’. ‘I’m too old to dress like that’, ‘I wish I had the confidence to wear colour’. Shall we start a little rebellion & wear what we want & dare I say, love our bodies? She’d love that for us.
xx
Lani
