A few days ago, my oldest daughter was at a church event with kids her age all day. Not long after, she mentioned to me quietly that she found out that day that she was the only kid there with only one pair of shoes.
I asked her a few questions, and more information came out about what had happened over the next day or so.
I felt really sad that it was at a church function where my kid began to feel insecure about Stuff. I had to think about it for a while before I came back to her about it.
I’ve talked about trying to fill spiritual holes with physical items. I’ve talked about knowing something in one moment, and trying to stay firm when I no longer feel sure.
I posted about that infernal raincoat, and suggested considering not purchasing any clothes for a year. In fact, I was doing a trial run of it. Then I realized the new pants I got when I was doing the Curated Closet process, I unwittingly purchased before I was done losing the baby weight.
(Photo Credit: Arri George. This is one version of my uniform.)
There’s nothing like pregnancy to give you a moment to step back and look critically at your wardrobe. Half of it doesn’t fit, and the other half won’t by the time you have your baby.
That’s where I was this time last year. To further complicate matters, I had donated or given away all my maternity clothes after our sixth baby because he was the “last” one, until an unplanned miscarriage broke our hearts and we decided to go for number seven.
Since I knew Seven really was our last, I couldn’t justify buying a ton of maternity clothes, so I aimed to use the clothes I had as long as I could, and make sure I got as much bang for my buck as I could with the maternity clothes I purchased.
Reading The Curated Closet (not an affiliate link) and doing the activities while I was pregnant was a great way to help me feel like I was making an effort with my appearance, and also deal with my clothes while I had enough distance to look at them without too much sentimentality. The goal of the book is to help you identify your personal style, and get your closet and shopping habits in line with that style.
Years ago, I got my first raincoat as an adult. I was shopping with my mom and it was light blue.
I never really loved it. It felt too heavy when it was warm, and not warm enough for a cold rain. I kept for several years and finally donated it so that I could find one I liked better.
Since then, I have purchased many different parkas and raincoats trying to find the perfect one. A green one with black polka dots. A blue with white polkadots. A pink and greige one with a pretty, multicolored tie on the zipper but sleeves that were just a little too short. A gently used, expensive yellow one from eBay that ended up being worn around the collar and wasn’t waterproof anymore (which was NOT mentioned in the listing). A brown one that folded up into its own pocket. A blue parka. A shiny iridescent raincoat that I overpaid for on a third party website since it was out of stock with the manufacturer, and then ended up not being what I thought it was going to be. A black one on super sale from the Nat Geo website. A cute vintage red parka a blogger featured. And none of those is counting the cool green parka my dad made when he was younger for my mom, which got passed on to me.
Now, let’s talk about the weather where I live.
