I had been meaning to write since yesterday, but could not think of a title. Yesterday I saw a lifehack on how to tie a man’s tie quickly. Anyway “with a light movement of the hand” we get a beautiful knot! For the Norwegian locality a man’s tie is for a very, very special occasion. Norwegian men “don’t bother” with details. And thank God!
But from my childhood life I remember a major quarrel of my parents because of this tie. I have written a lot about my mama. She sewed beautifully and always had wonderful dresses “for going out.” I remember myself as a little girl, about five. Mama and papa are getting ready for the theatre. I watch mama: she has a dress of tender lilac colour of natural silk, a shawl collar fastened with a huge most beautiful mother-of-pearl button, little pump shoes on a modest spike (papa was a stocky man, so mama tried to wear a moderate heel so as not to tower over him; in those times it was not accepted to be taller than a man).
And papa is also getting ready — dressing in his only civilian suit, a white shirt… very unusual for me to see papa “in civilian clothes” (that was a common expression among servicemen). And finally papa takes in his hands the tie that mama bought him for a solemn occasion, looks at the tie embarrassed and asks: “Masya (he always called mama that), and how do you tie it?”
I remember that mama was in a hurry to get herself in order and nervously answered that she didn’t know, think for yourself! Papa decided to turn to the neighbour for help, but he was not at home. So my papa sits on a stool and helplessly twists this ill-fated tie in his hands (he had no other tie, only from the military uniform, swamp-coloured with a ready knot and on an elastic which they hid under the collar). And mama is already almost ready, already “boiling,” looking at the helpless papa. The whole action took place in one room; we lived then in a barracks.
Anyway, it all ended in a major quarrel with tears and torn theatre tickets… At that moment I felt so sorry for both of them! I wept bitterly, I did not know how to pity them and reconcile them! What a trifle this untied tie! And who would have thought that it would become the cause of a major parental quarrel that I still remember.
And I also remember myself, when I started seeing my future first husband, having asked him the question “can you tie a tie.” He answered that he can, but slowly, thinking a long time, and after he has tied it, he tries not to untie it any more, but having slightly “loosened” the ribbon, carefully takes it off, preserving the tied knot. Practical-logical. There!