“Playing dress up begins at age five and never truly ends”
-Kate Spade
This weekend, Brandon and I went to a yard sale that was raising money for an organization in Shelbyville that we are pretty involved with, where some ladies we’ve gotten to know really well were hosting. We stopped by, mainly to chat with them, but, of course, did a little shopping ourselves. We scored a few good finds, mainly for Ava. A couple of shirts, some Grinch pajama pants, and some tennis shoes. The shoes were a blessing-lightly worn Nike’s in her giant shoe size. Yes, the child is 10 and wears a size 9 shoe. I’ve been ‘inheriting’ her shoes as she outgrows them! A camp chair and a room partition were added to the list as well.
The things we chose to pass on were pretty entertaining too. They included a fax machine, men’s used boxer shorts, silicone adhesive bra pieces (which the guys thought were eye patches), and an angel figurine labeled “HOPE” with only one wing. She’s not quite the inspirational message of hope anymore, I’m afraid!
I was particularly excited about two items, though. First, I found this super cute hat. It was a trendy looking cap made of camo, with a bedazzled looking fleur-de-lis off to the side. I picked it up and excitedly showed Brandon. His snarled up nose surprised me. I thought he liked me wearing hats; he’s bought me camo before, he and encourages a little extra bling. “You’re really going to put something on your head that has been on someone else’s?” Apparently buying a used hat and used boxer shorts were pretty much the same thing to him. Those two items hang out in two very different parts of the body! Even after assuring him I would Lysol spray it, it still took one of the ladies telling us she knew whose it was and that she was a clean person to get Brandon to jump on board.
But then I found it. That dress that just makes your heart smile a little bit. Normally it’s purses that give me this little rush, but every now and then something else grabs my attention. This particular dress had navy blue and white stripes on the bust and the three-quarter length sleeves. The bottom was a more satin like material, but not the kind that pulls super easy, and came right below the knees. It was yellow and covered in a big flower print. A pink band separated the top and bottom. Totally out of my black-and-white box, but totally cute. I quickly added it to my stack and paid the whopping $17 we owed for the armful of loot we walked out with.
A couple of days later, I decided to wear the dress to work. I slid it on to find out that it actually fit and was super comfortable, not stiff like a lot of my dress clothes. When I walked downstairs, Brandon immediately said “Wow…that dress makes you look skinny!”. As I smiled at him, I reached down and discovered that the dress also had pockets. My smile got immensely bigger, and I declared that the dress was never leaving my body. This proclamation was met with a smile and an eye roll. But seriously, even though this was most likely yard sale beginners luck, it the best dollar I’ve ever spent.
And more than that, finding a gem out of what someone else deemed worthy only to discard was pretty exhilarating. It was a small reminder to me that when I feel unworthy or unqualified, really only worthy of unuse, God stepped in and said “What a gem! Let me use her she will really be something!”. In the hands of the right owner, even thrown away things are treasures.
P.S. While wearing my new dress and writing this particular article, I’ve also been scrolling through and looking at dresses made by the same designer- ‘egs by Eloges’, in case you’re curious. They are all SUPER cute and almost all have pockets. Dear family of mine, please be prepared to see a couple on an upcoming Christmas wish list.
You should have included a picture!
Maybe another day…hair and makeup didn’t quite match the level of the dress. Not quite internet worthy today :).