Childhood Dreams

Today one of my childhood dreams has come true.

I am wearing a sweater dress, tights and boots. I'm am so excited about this that I kind of just want to parade around the office for a little while. This may sound silly, but I have wanted a sweater dress since I was a little girl playing with my Barbie doll. One of my favorite outfits was a red and navy sweater dress. I can still remember being in my aunt's bottom floor apt. in the projects playing with my Barbie Living Room and dressing her in that outfit over and over again. That dress just seemed so cool and chic to me then. So far removed from where I was. It was the kind of thing that ladies on TV and in magazine wore. I knew I wanted one. (It is my sincere belief that this is why fashions keep coming back. People want to wear what they couldn't wear when they were little and now that they are grown they "bring it back". i.e. bell-bottoms in the 90's and the constant return to 80's fashion) Today that dreams has come true and just had to share my warm and fuzzy feelings.

What makes it even better is that my mother called me on the phone to tell me that I looked nice. That never happens. It is especially rare these days as I have embarked upon my "Simplify My Life, Be A Better Person" crusade. I realized a couple years ago that I was unhappily bogged down in consumerism and as such have decided to stop buying things like clothes just for the sake of buying something new. I know that sometimes my mother misses the old me and wishes I would just be dressed up for no reason other than it being a day that ends in y, but I just want to tome it down and be more practical. It is not practical to chase my 3 year old LoLo Monster around in linen pants and wedge heels. It is was hard lesson to learn and accept, but I know that now.

This is not the first time a revelation of my need for simplicity has come upon me. When I first graduated college, I realized I was severely lacking in self-insight and decided to stop focusing so much on my appearance and work on my inner beauty. It turned out pretty well for me because not only did I find myself to be compassionate and competent at more than just putting together a cute outfit, but I found Jesus (for real this time).

I, however, am a "back-slider" of sorts and at the beginning of this year I decided that I was once again overwhelmed with stuff and should begin to simplify my life. I have downgraded my cell phone to a simple flip phone. I have started clearing items from my closet that I know I won't wear again. I have lowered the amount of time spent on my hair to about 4 hours a week. I have purposely not bought anything new because I want to make sure that I clear out all the excess. I still have things from high school and college that I have not gotten rid of for various reasons. In an effort not to wind up on the next episode of Hoarders I am really trying to dismiss all my physical expressions of emotional baggage.

All that was put on hold yesterday when I went shopping to find a dress to wear for Suga Booga's Christening. I got the church dress, but the best part of the night by far was when I saw it. It was the last one. It was striped and had big detailed sleeves. It has cute little pockets on the front. It was MY sweater dress and it was calling out to me. I could not resist trying it on and when it fit I knew that I HAD to have it. The little girl in my lit up in a way that I haven't felt in a long time. It made me want to play dress up and laugh out loud. It was a dream come true.

I know it may seem silly to be this excited over something so small, but sometimes it is the looking things that put everything else into perspective. This just reminded me that no matter how silly or trivial it may seem I should never give up because dreams really do come true.