Dress Up

Last year I read this fun book by Adena Halpern, Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown. She tells stories related to particular outfits she has had throughout her life. I loved that idea because I have saved many of my most favorite outfits for that same reason.

Ruby loves playing dress up. She has a bag of "dress up" clothes at my house. I had recently told her that I still have my cheerleader uniform from Junior High. She has been BEGGING me for weeks to dig it out. The other night I finally relented and got the big tote of old clothes out of my closet so she could see my cheerleader uniform. I was not prepared for what happened when I opened that tote. I am not sure if it was because it had been such a long time since I had last seen exactly what was in that tote or if it was because Ruby was there or if it was my mood at the time? We found my cheerleader uniform. We also found the dress and sweater I wore on my first day of Kindergarten. My Brownie and Girl Scout uniforms. My First Communion dress. The Mumu my Grandma brought back for me from Hawaii in the early 70's that I wore until it was WAY too small for me. The first project I made in Home EC when I was in 7th Grade. The pink monogrammed sweater my Grandma gave me. The memories came flooding back to me. I dug out old pictures to show Ruby the outfits when I wore them, and in one case, her Dad wore. Her Dad wore my Brownie uniform for Halloween one year and the picture has been on my refrigerator for years. She tried on the cheerleader uniform and the mumu. She wanted to try on the dress I wore for my first day of school, but even though she is the exact same age I was, she is much, much bigger than I was at 4 years old.