7. Festoon

Festoon


[feh-sto͞on]


To decorate, embellish, or ornament; To hang a decorative strip between two fixed points



My friend Paige and I both like to festoon our homes and ourselves with baubles, trinkets, painted nails, wacky clothes, bright colors, psychedelic prints.

Matiah and Paige in their psychedelic Sunday best

It's a fairly new thing for me, at least as regularly as I do now, and it's certainly due to the influence of Paige. These adornments are fun, but taken another way, they're a way to set yourself apart from the world because you want to be seen, you want approval, and you want to be heard.

As a person who had the caregivers I had, I've obviously sought approval and attention at so many points in my life, not least with Paige, who'd had a bipolar overbearing mother and just wasn't ready to take on the emotional labor of my insecurity.

The things we festoon ourselves and our homes with sometimes mean things, but sometimes, as I'm wont to do, I assign value and meaning to things that others haven't even thought about. The shell earrings, the ceramic drip and drop salt and pepper shakers, the fabric I cut out and tacked to my wall, so many records, photos, and books...

I know it doesn't mean anything. We can adorn our homes, bodies, and even our minds with trinkets and treasures, and we don't have to assign value to them all. My mind would be reeeeeally cluttered if I tried. It's too cluttered as it is.


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