One of the great mysteries in life: every single time I go to visit my dad and little sister Wendi in Los Angeles, I end up buying clothes that just don’t fit me. Most of the items are things I’d never ever wear at home, and when I go back to Sweden, I usually decide to leave all of it with my sister. (She’s not too upset about that, I’ll tell you.)
I have this theory that since I never grew up with my dad, I sort of want to recreate my teen years when I go see him. Take these weird skin tight jeans with tons of holes in them that I bought in LA when I was there in March. Why?! Well, when my dad got home that night, the first words out of his mouth were “Sunny!* There’s something wrong with your pants! They’re all ripped!”. And obviously I was like “nooo, are you serious? How did this happen? I can’t believe this – I just bought them for Christ’s sake!”. If that’s not a teenage conversation, I don’t know what is.
(I bought the cheetah print litas that same week, but I can’t blame those on trying to get my dad’s attention. I just fell in love with them and couldn’t stand the thought of not taking them home with me.)
Anyway, in the end I decided to bring the trashy jeans as well. Since I moved out into the countryside a little more than a year ago, I’ve started wearing clothes that are both super comfortable and… no, wait, they’re actually just super comfy. I don’t think it’s such a bad idea for me to wear things, at least once in a while, that are more of a… challenge. Hey, I’m still too young to put comfort first seven days a week!
(*"Sunny" is my dad’s nickname for me. When I was a baby, before my mom and dad split up, my name was Sunshine – yeah, I know – but when my dad moved back to LA my mom started calling me Annika instead. I sometimes wish she hadn’t, for instance, if I would have decided to become a stripper, I wouldn’t have to come up with a stage name. Come to think of it, I would probably have worn those ripped jeans a lot more often than I do now.
Anyways, my dad and everyone on his side of the family didn’t really pay too much attention to the name change, which means that in the US, I’m still Sunny.)
