I Learned My Lesson Well

My mother has gone to Tampa to spend a couple of weeks with my brother and sister-in-law. My SIL, Molly, and I spoke this morning about Mother's arrival yesterday. Molly opened Mother's very heavy suitcase to unpack and get her settled in.

Let me set the stage by saying that both my daddy and my mother always had/have had impeccable and exquisite taste in clothing. They enjoyed/enjoy dressing nicely in quality clothing. Even the thought of buying an item of clothing at Wal-Mart or K-Mart or even Penney's or Sears was anathema to them. Even in pre-med, Daddy's clothing came from Britches of Georgetown.

Mother has developed quite a belly over the past few years, and all clothing now has stretch waistbands. She shops a lot from the Draper's and Damon's catalog, which houses a lot of polyester. Still, she can buy some nice things, and she shops frequently and lavishly—or as lavishly as one can at Draper's and Damon's.

So when Molly unpacked the suitcase, she was surprised to find only two dresses, both polyester, and only one a recent purchase. The other dress, according to Molly, was the ugliest thing she had ever seen in Mother's closet. Besides the dresses, there was one pair of black velour pants, and two tops. For a two-week visit!

Oh, but there were four pair of shoes. More shoes than clothes.

That's my girl. She taught me well!