Memories of Special Clothes, Colors and People

    Often special moments—good or bad—are associated with clothing, something about it like color, style, appeal.  My family was not rich by any means, but my mother did have a lady make some very special dresses for me.  I can still see one in my mind, a grey and pink see through like material, and I, the adorable, dark haired little girl with a favorite little golden locket.

                My older brother became a high school star basketball player in the 60s wearing uniforms very much like the ones in the Hoosier movie.  Being four years younger, I looked up to him and enjoyed watching the cheerleaders in their V neck sweaters with a big N on them for Normandy (school made famous in 2014 Black Lives Matter beginning). Those were exciting times for the school and our family.

                Without a doubt, it was not Jim’s stylish look or even attempt to look attractive that won my heart.  Those first few weeks he would come over to my house with SIUE apparel, often with holes here and there.  Despite my growing affection for him, I did wonder if he had any decent clothes to wear in a box or closet somewhere—unknown apparently.

                But the color and dress that I wore on our first date was special and remained so.  I had made the dress, a simple A-line with a U shaped, ruffle-enhanced neckline.  The color, a magenta, deep cranberry is a flattering one for us winter girls with dark hair and eyes.  Does anyone even talk about that season coloring guide anymore?

                That night late in February, that dress, that color, and the time to be in Jim’s company, just thinking about it all does not make me sad, but so very thankful for our 45 years of marriage.  I spent many years operating with a fairly empty dance card, and then along came Jim.  At some point in those first months, he returned my record set of Jesus Christ Super Star.  When I took the lid off, inside was a chiffon scarf just that magenta color with a little note from a song in “My Fair Lady”: “but the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before.” This “I don’t care what I look like” fellow was quite the romantic, going to the theater to see “Sound of Music” seven times while attending a preparatory Catholic boys’ high school.

                Today that scarf hangs on a ladder from a Christmas display that Jim bought for me at Carson’s department store after we moved to Charleston from St. Louis.  The ladder stands near the front door, and the scarf hangs on one cross bar, a reminder of a special night, a special dress and a special man.