Survival of the “Fittest”

I am now the proud owner of a new outfit to wear to my class reunion.

The day went much like I knew it would and wrote about in “the challenge”. I decided on the walking shoes because my back was hurting anyway and I knew if I wore shoes with no support, I’d never make it.

The first store we went in, we hit 5 minutes after they opened, evidently the clerk’s were not awake yet because all the time we were in there, only one spoke to us. Her statement was “are you looking for something in particular”? She then walked away before I had a chance to answer.

This was a huge store but we took off on our own in search of something that would call our attention to it. The first section we walked thru was for teenager’s….everything there was “spandex”. Spandex does not work well when placed over sagging bulges so we kept walking, and walking and walking. Nothing was jumping out at me crying to be tried on, so I finally located the first and only clerk we’d seen. I ask where one might find some ladies semi casual clothes appropriate for a banquet. She told us they were all the way over on the other side of the store, behind the coat department, beside the sportswear, so off we go again. Finally, we seen a sign that said “ladies suits” and we knew we were getting close. There before us on the wall, hung several nice pants suits. I seen one I liked, it was on a rack sticking out of the wall about 6 feet off the floor. Now by this time my back was already starting to whine, and all I really wanted to do was set down, however; being the trooper I am, I reached to find my size. With one little jerk, I did get the jacket in my hands while consequently the slacks fell to the floor. The price tag is usually the first thing I look at, and this one read $385. I hung it back on another rack, we found our way to the front of the store and out the door, walked (what felt like) another thousand miles across the parking lot to the car and pondered our next move….

Our next stop, a smiling clerk, about my age, greeted us at the door, explained where everything was, gave us her name, said to look around and call her if we wanted to try something on or if she could help in any way. It was a much smaller store and after we had looked for a few minutes she approached us again and ask if we were having any luck. At that point, she became my best friend, and when I told her what I needed she started scooping up hangers full of things for me try on. I will spare you all the ugly details, and there is so much more to it, but two hours later I left there with a reasonably priced, comfortable, sharp looking, outfit that fit nicely and one which I like and will wear a lot. Furthermore, it makes me look just like I did in 1961. (Well, in my eyes anyway). I can’t say it was painless, but it was productive.

My daughter and I then went out for a nice lunch,…… ah, it felt so good to set down.