The Purge

Getting ready to go to the Lion King took hours. I live in jeans, tees, flannel and Keens but I felt I needed to dress-up for the occasion. After all I was going to the fanciest restaurant in town and the cultural center. I opened my closets still full of power suits, dresses,  evening attire, sweaters, silk blouses, wool pants... and began my dressing frenzy. I actually did end up wearing my best jeans and flannel shirt and polished my Keens for the occasion. I was pleasantly relieved to note that I was not the only woman of a certain age, similarly attired. This is Eugene after all.
I was raised with two strong, often repeated, values: "waste not, want not" and "a penny saved, is a penny earned". With clothing and most everything else, I bought only the best and classics - not fads. Items that if they went out of style would come in again. Because of the quality, mine would still look new and expensive. I had saved having to buy anew most often poorer quality.
While many of my clothes are "in again", I have changed. They still fit but are not me. I haven't worn most of then for years and if I had felt I had to for a certain occasion, I had not enjoyed being in them.
I called my good friend Susan, who had helped me tackle dealing with Dave's clothes. She too is a widow and understood how to approach that painful task. She also volunteers at the Jr. League thrift shop. Susan knew me through my career years and had seen me in practically everything in my closet. She employed her infectious laugh to our clothing purge. When I would look at saving a silk dress or sweater Susan would say: "These are beautiful, but are they you?" or "I remember you wearing this back in the 80's". If I could wear it out on the tractor, it stayed. Most everything else will benefit an organization committed to developing the potential of women and serving the communities youth, family and underserved.
No pictures of the purge - just words. But, I do now have empty drawers and closets for guests.