Table for Two, and a Dress

No doubt I’ve got the cooking down, sadly the restaurant scene hasn’t been our thing of late and take-out is a once in a while go-to. The dressing part however, a little more challenging, even though that’s very much one of my things, yet a piece of me I’ve been losing touch with.

We have a new baby in the family, and husband and I celebrated our daughter’s first Mother’s Day with her last May while in Boston MA. I made brunch, Caroline and I both put on dress-up clothes, she a new festive skirt and sweater I picked up for her after a day trip to Newport RI, I slipped on a dress. Honestly the outfit change-up was a very short-lived go, it was simply a little weird and uncomfortable to be at home with a new baby all dressed up and nowhere to be, so we slipped back into our house clothes.

Summertime at the country house was a little different, there it was easy to wear a dress, even serve dinner barefoot, and it was a good and appropriate look.

With cooler temperatures, snow falling and pandemic fatigue settling in hard, sometimes I’m wondering just what is the point? Does it even matter what I’m wearing or the tone I’m setting by maybe what I’m not wearing?

For this holiday season we are now all in the midst of I’m here to say yes, it indeed makes a difference to the moments we experience by the very distinct choice we make in what we wear. Sure, it’s easy to opt out and slip on the very same thing we’ve been slipping on for months now (tank tops, and denim, or please help me sweats, with a sweater!), yet then we’re all in the very same things and there’s no way to differentiate one day or one meal from the next, and in my world that seems a little sad, and disheartening.

So, to minimize sadness I’m determined to slip on a dress or two the next coming weeks, and I’m celebrating those I’m with by making a clear effort that yes, their company is real, important, and significant, and I’m showing up for you by giving you my best. Like most, I’ll be with way less of my loved ones this holiday season, I simply can’t slip into it just doesn’t matter I’ll just wear whatever, that’s a loss of hope.

While in Eden late fall husband and I had many shared meals just the two of us after college girls departed, and I always set the table. I didn’t always dress, yet when I did, I remember it more clearly, and it all just felt better.

Here’s to hope, feeling a little better, a proper table for two, and a dress.