What to Wear?

My husband told me a month or so ago that he had to attend a black tie affair for work and he wanted me to go with him. The last time I saw him in a tuxedo was when we married 32 years ago. I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to do so again.

And then I got sick.

For two weeks I could barely make myself go to the grocery store. I did what I had to do at home and went to the doctor four times. All the while forgetting that I needed a long dress to wear if I went with my husband to his event.

Bill rented his tux and assumed I had a dress, and I didn’t tell him any differently because in the back of my mind was this little tiny voice whispering, “You don’t feel good enough to go.”

The day before the dinner I decided I was going to make myself go, but now I had a problem. What to wear?

I really didn’t feel well enough to go shopping but I didn’t have anything to wear. I live in a really, small town and to get to the mall I would have drive a long distance. I just didn’t have the energy. So I took a chance and went to the consignment shop.

I am very tall and the odds of my finding a dress that was long enough were slim. I went to the back of the store and started going through the dresses. Most of them were prom dresses that were way too young looking for me. I worked my way through them and there at the end of the rack was my dress…literally.

Three years ago my daughter got married and I ordered a dress. Turns out the color I ordered (gold) didn’t go well with her color theme. It was too late to send it back so I kept it. It hung in my closet for a year or so. I got tired of it and took it to the consignment shop and lo and behold it was still there.

I took my dress back home. I wore the dress. I made it through dinner and the awards ceremony. I wanted to stay and hear the band (they were awesome) but I just couldn’t make it any longer, so we went home.

And that my friends is the remarkable but true story of how I came to have a dress to wear to my husband’s black tie affair!