Portage la Prairie, MB –
Cynthia Revelstoke moved to Portage la Prairie from Winnipeg with her husband and two-year-old son three years ago looking for an idyllic small town life. She discovered the pastoral existence she longed for but it came with a few surprising side effects that are troubling her city friends.
“Cynth dresses like she’s given up,” Winnipegger and friend Diane Snell offered. “She used to have longer nicely coloured hair and perfect make up. Now if I come out for coffee she is in sweat pants and a hat.”
“I know my Winnipeg friends don’t understand my new Portage life-style,” Cynthia Revelstoke said. “I used to dress up to go out grocery shopping or to the Glesby Centre but I quickly learned Portage people really didn’t like that too much.”
Revelstoke was the object of criticism and snide comments when she dressed up, did her hair and put on make up for work each day.
“For two weeks straight I had people ask me why I was all dressed up for work. I noticed my co-workers generally wore yoga pants or jeans so I had to adapt to survive,” Revelstoke said.
To fit in better she downgraded her Winnipeg wardrobe and slowly did away with doing her hair regularly or over applying make up to look more like a Portager.
“I’ve come to really like that about Portage,” Revelstoke shared. “It saves a pile of time and I’m much more relaxed. My husband and I still like to put on nice clothes when we go out for dinner. We have to put up with a few glares but it’s nice to dress up once in a while.”
While Revelstoke’s fashion choices might be winning her Portage friends it is not sitting well with her Winnipeg associates.
“It looks to me like she’s just given up and is letting herself go,” Snell explained. “I can put up with seeing her like that when I go to Portage but she’s starting to dress like a slob when she comes to our girl’s night out in Winnipeg.”
Despite the disapproval, Revelstoke is content with her new life style and loves the freedom of being able to go to work or shopping with her hair up and in sweat pants.
“I love it,” Revelstoke said. “I haven’t been adding many dress clothes to my wardrobe so I don’t dress up when I meet my girlfriends in the city, but I hope they’ll eventually understand and accept my new rural life-style.”
“Everybody in Portage dresses like hopeless, hapless hillbillies. We don’t want our friend to get swallowed up in that kind of thinking,” Snell said. “We’re hoping her and Brad will move back to Winnipeg so we can get her the support she needs.”
The Revelstokes have no plans or desires on moving back to the city and having to dress up every day.
“My friends just need to chill and be thankful we didn’t move to someplace like Treherne where 80’s hair is still the rage and acid wash jeans are still a fashion option,” Revelstoke said.
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