the subtle power of good clothing

hand cut vegetables and bouquet garni

going with carnations instead of the expected roses, on Valentine’s Day

So, Tuesday night we were cooking up some short ribs, parsnip puree, green beans and creme brûlée. Wednesday night I was standing gurney side as they were about to wheel our eighteen year old daughter, fifth child, into emergency surgery at 10:56 pm.

Oh, how life can change on a dime. Picked this child up after a phone call from the school nurse, drive sixth child out to her drivers ed class and husband comes home to find fifth child on the floor, in pain. Quick trip to the ER, three or so morphine shots later and the late night surgery crew is saying ‘you look way too dressed up to be here’. We were wearing our regular stuff, yet they noticed, and took us seriously. When your kid is being wheeled in for your not quite sure what and you put your faith in the powers above, it’s a good thing to feel good in your clothes.

Wednesday office outfit that went until Thursday late afternoon

Laid down in those clothes, in the surgery waiting room. Slept in those clothes, in two chairs pushed together at the end of her bed. Woke up in those clothes and was thankful for another day, and Tim Horton’s hospital coffee, a breakfast sandwich, and a sour cream donut, we we’re running on empty.

Really, what you wear can speak volumes, oftentimes without you even saying a word. We write here about good clothes, good food, and sometimes about drinking good wine, and if it came down to the end I’d want to be wearing a good outfit, having enjoyed a good meal, and definitely a good glass of wine, all with the people I love, that’s really the gist of us here at every day dress.

That outfit gave me strength. She’s on the mend. xoxo

what we wore on Friday, for four hours at the office, when what we really felt like doing was never leaving the couch

Every day dress, the subtle power of good clothing.