I belong to a video game group and the other day someone posted a thread asking what you thought was true as a kid that you later found to either be wholly untrue or uncovered a more accurate version of.

It got me thinking about my childhood friend Sarah.

I grew up incredibly poor. Because of that, I didn’t have many friends, especially friends who would want to come over or hang out; Sarah was an exception. She was lovely and kind and, for a stretch, we spent time together fairly regularly.

It was summertime and we had walked down to Safeway (a grocery store) for Otter Pops. It was hot and sticky and we were talking about school clothes shopping. She told me her mom had taken her to the mall where she met a woman who told her what would be in fashion in the fall and winter.

My mind was BLOWN. I was like, WAIT. She knows NOW what will be in fashion THEN?! And she was like, YES! She said khaki and animal prints would be in (this was the mid ’80s), so Sarah’s mom got her things in that vein.

I had so many questions. I honestly thought this woman was a fashion fortune teller who could see into the future and tell people how to be fashionable. I had no idea such people existed.

I think she said something else about metallics being in style but by that point I couldn’t even focus because I was so MFing impressed that a woman could see the future and use it to help people be beautiful.

Of course, years later, I acquired a cursory understanding of how the fashion industry worked and that the fashion fortune teller had, in all reality, likely been reading Vogue or any number of other fashion magazines. But I will never forget that walk home or that I believed (for years!!) someone could see into the fashion future. I had pictured that woman as impossibly fashionable, wearing white pumps (I have a massive weakness for white pumps), a metallic dress, and having beautifully permed hair. I imagined her frosty lipstick, heavy blush, and intense eye shadow. In truth, I never met her, but she stayed in my mind for such a long time.

That whole memory makes me smile. And makes me wonder how Sarah is doing and if she is feeling fashionable.

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In the same vein, was there anything you thought as a child but later found out was untrue? I’d love to hear about it!