Dressing It Up

My morning started with my inability to find a single item of clothing in my closet that I didn't absolutely hate. Stuff that I love to wear all the time suddenly either didn't fit or was dirty or missing. An hour of negotiating with my wardrobe ended in a stalemate, which left me completely blind with rage. If I could have set my clothes on fire, I would have. Smartly, the Husband stores the lighter fluid and blowtorch out of my reach. Finally, after my will was crushed by a pair of black pants that wouldn't go over my hips, I settled on a green dress with wild blue and teal flowers.

The first time I wore this particular dress was to the baccalaureate service that accompanied my high school graduation more than 10 years ago. It was one of two presentable dresses I was able to take with me to college, and I have kept it not only because of the memories I attach to it, but because its one of those pieces that is always in style.

It's accompanied through some of the most significant moments of my life. I wore it when I received won top honors at the Southern Literary Festival and to a banquet where I received a writing scholarship. Five years ago I had this dress on when I told my then-boyfriend that has no choice but to marry me because was in love with him and I said so. There is hand stitching in the shoulders and bust where great-grandmother altered the dress for me. She's been gone many, many years now, but every time I put it on I think of her and feel like she's with me.

Today I'm wearing a new bright blue cardigan with it. The bosom is definitely more snug than it was a decade ago and the color must have faded a bit since then, but for the life of me I can't tell. It feels just as good as it did then, and I'm just as confident that I look good when I wear it now as I did in high school.

I suppose its human nature to be surrounded by so many new, wonderful things, but still return to that which we have relied for so long. That dress is like certain people in my life – Madge, my husband and family -- they never, ever fail to be there and they always fit perfectly.



We might not be perfect, but we're perfect for each other.