Does It Spark Joy?

 I was getting dressed this morning, looking at a pair of underwear that I bought - $50 for a set of undies. Now, they're supposedly "period proof" underwear - get real. I doubt that anyone is buying them for periods. We're buying them because our bladders have failed us - they're incompetent little bitches who can't hold their water - but that's a discussion for another day. Today, I want to talk about how I'm being charged $50, and these guys can't even be bothered to do a French hem. There are raw edges, unclipped threads... which led me to thinking about Grandma Lova. 

My grandmother was a professional seamstress. She sewed at the factory for 20 years - enough that her fingerprints had been worn away through erosion, rubbed out by constant contact with the rough fabric. Don't worry - I'm not going all Dolly Parton on you. For one thing, Grandma would be horrified - she was always much more practical than whimsical, and if a coat she made had many colors, she'd think it a failure of planning. For another, it's hard to get all misty-eyed about a pumpkin-orange leisure suit, which was the most memorable outfit she ever made me. But you can damn sure bet that pumpkin-orange leisure suit did not have any raw hems. 

But then there is the dress I'm wearing. This is probably the most significant piece of clothing I've ever had. Let me start at the beginning...  For my birthday, Mom got me a t-shirt - just a simple black t-shirt with white lettering, but it said "Vote Like Ruth Sent You" with a picture of her dissent collar. Now, if you know me, you know that I treasured Ruth Bader Ginsburg, so I loved the shirt... but I couldn't wear it much because my body is not built for t-shirts. It's the childbearing hips - ok, no, it's the continental shelf I've got hanging out the back, but anyway - t-shirts roll up and refuse to even try to cover it. 

But I was scrolling through Facebook and saw video of how a woman had repurposed her t-shirts into maxi-dresses and thought "Yeah! I could wear the heck out of that." and mentioned it to my Aunt Sherri. Aunt Sherri is the recipient of Grandma's sewing genes - she took the t-shirt and found 2 yards of fabric at Jo-anns and made me a dress (and several purpose filled scrunchies). Guys... it's how my family loves me, in a maxi. I'm in tears because of the love in this dress.