Love, Loss, and What I Wore

Day 62

Love, Loss and What I Wore

Although I am a freelance designer/developer and work from home, I rarely spend time during the week for fun. Working from home requires a certain discipline and although I definitely work, it is very often in pajamas—less temptation to go out!

A friend suggested a little mid-week hooky, a performance at the Gem Theatre, a lovely little theatre in Detroit near Ford Field. The play, by Nora and Delia Ephron, is titled “Love, Loss, and What I Wore.” Given my challenge regarding clothes, she thought this would be a perfect fit. It was!

The play, a simple but elegantly performed production, stars five women including Loretta Swit (from MASH) and Sonia Manzano (Maria from Sesame Street!). Holy muppets! Maria from Sesame Street looks amazing! Anyway, the women recount pivotal times in their lives, the common thread (pun intended) being that we can always remember what we were wearing. Even looking in my closet today, there are emotional reactions from certain items. A jacket I wore on stage during the first school variety show I organized. A dress that rocked in the millennium. Jeans that marked the first time in months that I could fit into my “last resort” size. I remember the black velvet dress that made me feel so glamorous when I was 9 months pregnant. The navy off-the-shoulder top that I was wearing the night I met my husband. He insists that he took one look and knew he’d found the girl he would marry.

There was much, much more in this 100 minute play and I am sure I’ll continue to refer to it because it is a thread that most of us share. We can’t set out each day knowing that something big could happen and dress appropriately. It’s a chance we take. It is, for the moment, making me think twice about what I throw on …