Wednesday, November 17, 2010

#65 - Check! And Made my Mom Happy by Doing So...

If my mom had a 101 List, one of the items on her list probably would've been Make Jillian get back the two dresses she loaned to someone a long time ago.

It was with her in mind that I put this as #65 on my list. Because ever since I loaned these dresses to someone two years ago, she's harped at me at least once a month to get them back.

And that in itself is kind of hilarious.

Yes, these dresses aren't just "any" dresses. One of them was the dress I wore to my graduation over ten years ago. I recall it well. It was black velvety material with sequins on top, and we bought it a Laura warehouse sale for about $50. When my sister graduated 6 years before me, she wore a $400 dress from Melanie Lynn. More evidence that I'm the black sheep of the family. Or just too big to fit in beautiful, expensive dresses...

I got a bad, blistery sunburn a few days before grad, and I spent much of the day telling people I looked like a sunburnt killer whale. (My self-confidence is astounding, isn't it?)

The second was my bridesmaid dress from my sister's wedding, over eight years ago. I have much happier memories of that dress. A beautiful summer day, a wonderful occasion to celebrate, and dancing all night long in the eggplant-coloured gown. It was a little too long come party time, when I kicked off the heels and opted for flip-flops for the dancefloor, so I spent half the time yanking my dress up so my bra wouldn't show. When my cousin Jim stepped on the hem while we were dancing, one of the straps snapped. I have fond memories of giggling with some of my sister's friends in the ladies room while they pinned me back together, and thanked God my mom had the vision to put saftey pins and sewing kits in the little bathroom courtesy basket.

So yes, these dresses weren't just any old dresses. They definitely had sentimental value. That's why my mom didn't want me to leave them in someone else's basement, to grow old and dusty and eventually be forgotten.

Ironically enough, my mom throws out almost everything. She's not into pack-ratting. Or keeping momentos. Or hanging on to things of sentimental value. I think I heard her last week threatening to throw out my baby book because she needs more room on the shelf of her closet. (I'm kidding, I'm kidding...)

But for some reason, it was extremely important in her eyes for me to get these dresses back.

I, on the other hand, didn't really care, and felt sort of silly asking for them back, when I figured I'd never have any reason to wear them again. I mean, especially now. They're old.

However, this week, I realized I did have a reason. The Murder Mystery is this weekend. And it's a formal birthday party theme. As one of the directors, I really should dress up for it, since we encourage other attendees to come dressed up. I only own a few formal dresses, and the ones hanging in my closet right now definitely won't fit. So my only other choice was to hunt down these old dresses and try them on!

Picked 'em up last night. Safely back in my possession. Pretty sure I won't be wearing either of them.

But at least my mom can sleep at night again.

#65 - Get back the dresses I loaned to someone a long time ago... CHECK!!

PS - I've spent much of this blog trying to figure out if I loaned the dresses or lent them. I was already corrected on this once before in my life (in an entirely embarassing fashion, but that's another story for another day), but I can't for the life of me remember which way is grammatically correct, and my (brief) Google research didn't help much. I think lent is the proper term, but it sounds weird. And reminds me of Easter. Loaned it is!!

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