Lillie Love and Anthony Knight

Lillie Love and Anthony Knight

Interview transcript

LL: When I was thirteen I mapped out my life and made some critical decisions about what kind of life I was going to have. I thought that at 52 I would be married with children and hopefully grandchildren. But instead, very little of that actually happened. I did get married, it didn’t last. I was pregnant several times and I had miscarriages. And so…it’s like designing a dress while you’re wearing it. You know, you can’t really fashion a life for yourself at thirteen and think that that’s going to fit you for the rest of your life. So I realized, I’m not going to be the wife and I’m not going to be the mother. What else is there for me? And what there was for me is to be a terrific sister, to be a wonderful friend, to be a great aunt. So I tell people, the life that I have now is not the life I thought I would have but it’s the life that is perfect for who I am. And I never would have thought that when I was younger. And I don’t make things bigger than what they are. I don’t borrow trouble, like, people like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait till Friday.’ You don’t hear me saying that. I thank God for ordinary Tuesdays. Because the ordinary days means that nothing really great happened but nothing really bad happened either.

AK: I think more people should live by those kinds of rules.

LL: Yeah! Thank God for an ordinary boring Tuesday where you’re thinking, life is in a rut. I love ruts because it’s predictable.

AK: Well, let’s project into the future.

LL: I don’t do that anymore. I learned my lesson about creating clothing for twenty years down the road. You don’t know what size you’re going to be, you don’t know what’s going to fit you. I have learned to let the universe give me what it is that I need. So, if I can keep it simple, and I can keep it real, and my family’s okay, I’m okay.