ADEQUATE AND COMFORTABLE CLOTHING CHOICES
Mom was pretty well set in the clothes department. She had good taste but felt she shouldn't spend too much. She might live to be 100. She might need the money to eat. And if she didn't live to 100, she didn't want to leave any good clothes for some other wahine (woman). One time, about 20 years earlier, just for love, Betty and I took Mom to Nordstrom. We set her up in a changing room and asked the sales person to bring us everything for her to try: dresses, purses, shoes, and under garments. When the smoke cleared, Mom went home with two complete new outfits from the bottom up. She looked and felt like a million.
I'd like to believe that it set the tone for Mom's wardrobe since that time. I do know she never forgot the experience. She spoke of it often. And kept both outfits until she died.
As for Dad, his closet looked like the racks at the Salvation Army. Dad's clothes were a worn out mishmash when he came to live with us. Mom was convinced that he would have a fit if we gave away of any of his clothing. I believed if he had some nicer, better fitting clothes and shoes, he would feel better.
We did convince Mom to let us get him some special monogrammed sweaters from Pennys. He was always freezing when the rest of us were just right. He loved the new sweaters. With that success, Mom let me take him shopping. A pair of shoes here, a pair of slacks there -- little by little, one by one, his old clothes were replaced by newer, more comfortable ones. He loved the new clothes. He never asked about the old clothes. Never.
Sometimes he would prance around like a model if we commented on how good he looked. Often I would wear similar colored clothes, which brought him pleasure. "We look like twins," he'd say. Clothes may not make the man, but the sure make the man feel better. MORE>
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