The Bag Lady Banished

I love, love, love this jacket, and it has a good story to boot! You see, about 13 years ago we spent some times in Door County, Wisconsin and had a wonderful time. The Riggs family has a home on the lake. They invited us to vacation there for a week or so. All we had to do was get there, do something to improve the cabin in luie of paying for housing, and feed ourselves. I was a stay-at-home mom and my husband had not been long in his career so money was very tight. We were delighted to have a real vacation.

When we arrived we found that the Riggs had left us a kind note and a gift of spending money. Each of us got $100 to spend on whatever our hearts desired. Larr bought home a pair of nice matching lamps. I selected this jacket, a ceramic hand-thrown bowl (by Thor of Egg Harbor) and a print of a bird painting that lived in our dinning room until it was ruined during our remodel. Ethan, being just a little sprout, bought lots of fun toys, including a wooden, handmade firetruck complete with an extendable ladder.

Each time I wear the jacket I think of that trip and the fun time we had. The jacket links me to standing on the sandy beach of the lake and enjoying the warm breeze as it tickled my face. I remember the ferry ride to the small island that has and artist retreat with a quilting school. I remember the fun of allowing little Ethan to pick anything he wanted. Now I remember how simple parts of our life seemed on that trip. I just remember. And that seems more important to me than a fashion statement. One look at me and you know I am no fashion diva.

However, whenever I wear it my mother tugs at it, huffs a bit and tells me I look like a bag lady. When it was newer I figured it was the untaylored look of it. In recent years the fraying sleeves did not help me to defend against this idea. In fact, I have meant to fix that problem of the fraying sleeves for few years. On Friday I finally got around to doing something about it. When I fix something like this I always worry that people will look at that and think to themselves, "hum...(small pause here) did you notice that she fixed that jeacket? You can tell that it was an amiature job." However, I love the jacket enough that I was willing to risk it. I selected fabric that I liked and set to work. I have worn it twice since the repair and no one seems to notice. That makes me all the happier. Perhaps I can go on wearing it for a few more years.