Autumn or Bust

Today was the semi-annual wardrobe conversion. Many women will know what I mean: I went to my storage cubicle and retrieved my two suitcases of winter clothes and box of shoes, and brought them home. I emptied those containers and refilled them with shorts, tank tops, swimwear, sandals, and all my other summer clothes. I brought the suitcases and shoe box back to my storage cubicle, and now, viola! I have a closet full of cold-weather clothes, and my summer duds are snugly stored until next season.

This is an opportunity for me to look at every piece of clothing I own, assess it’s wearability, and select pieces to donate. I thin my wardrobe every year, and enjoy the clean, organized look and feel to my closet and chest of drawers. This year a hefty bag full of stuff, including shoes and belts, went to the Goodwill. Now it will be my responsibility not to purchase as much or more clothing as I’ve given away. I don’t need a lot of clothes, and the pieces I have are very nice.

I have been, for the last two years, simplifying my wardrobe. I like to think of this as a reflection of my life. I have work clothes, and play clothes. I have a wide variety of looks, but I don’t need to have a new outfit every time I go someplace, like my Mom does and my Grandmother did. My Mom always feels like she looks like shit in everything she already owns. My grandmother had a sense of pride about people seeing her in the same outfit twice. I don’t have either of those problems. My problem is a lack of closet space. So, I thin.

I also have this idea in my mind that life would be so much easier if I owned a very small wardrobe.  Two or three suits, about six shirts, and two pairs of office pumps should be all I need for work. Two pairs of jeans, an assortment of tops, one pair of sneakers, one pair of comfy sandals, a few sweaters, and two or three dresses for casual clothes. One warm jacket, one light jacket, one winter coat. Snow boots, tall dress boots (to wear with skirts) and cowboy boots, just because I love ‘em. Really, isn’t that all a person ever needs?

Why do women have to have such enormous wardrobes? Do we really have to have every single color of shoe, in every style? How did we get so dependent on this crutch?

Like I have any business asking that. But, I’m trying to change this. It’s all part of my Year of Truth. Well, ok, the Year of Truth was 2004, but I liked the way things went, so might as well keep the actions going. Let’s face it, having a million clothes didn’t keep shit from happening to me, so I might as well test out the simplify theory. If I have less decisions to make about clothes, I’ll have more time to dedicate to bigger things, like making sure I get a decent breakfast, or checking a map to wherever I’m headed.

What does that have to do with Truth? Well, it’s true that I look fine, pretty much whatever I wear, wherever I go. It’s true that I don’t need all those clothes. It’s true that I used to spend way too much money on my costumes, and it’s true that I don’t feel the need to costume myself in my daily life anymore. My closet should reflect all those truths.

Tomorrow I attend orientation at Massage Therapy School. It’s only two hours. I’ve already got my books and other basic supplies. For the rest of Sunday, I plan to relax, maybe watch a movie, and enjoy my free time with G. Monday, it begins.

I’m currently temping at a pretty cool company in White Plains. I started last Friday. I work 8:30 to 5pm. I have one hour to make an hour and a half commute to class. This may not work, but I’m going to give it a shot. What I do know is that, starting Monday, I’m up at 7am, out by 8, and I don’t return home until shortly before midnight, four nights a week. I won’t have time to stop home in between work and school. Fridays I work. Friday nights, I’m going to be crashing. Weekends should be quiet for the first few months, but in January I’ll have to start working in the student clinic, and that will mean weekend trips to Englewood. Until November of 2006.

Holy. Shit.

So this would be the point when I remind y’all of that post I wrote a few months back, saying I wouldn’t likely be blogging for awhile, because I’ll be too busy. Yep. Now’s the time.

Thank you to all of you who left comments and emailed me regarding my uncle’s passing last week. It was a very difficult wake and funeral for my family, and it left me feeling very empty. I said goodbye to a lot more than just my uncle last Wednesday. Thankfully, I have a great deal in my future right now, and I’m ready for it.

This is the first time I can truly recall being excited for autumn to arrive. G and I will be spending Thanksgiving with his parents, and Christmas with mine. I have a new job, a new school, and a fresh fall closet. I’ve got a trunk full of sheets and anatomy textbooks. I’ve got enough Bio-Tone Massage Goop to... well, I’ve got tons of it. Oh – and my car has stopped doing that shaking thing. Turns out I was driving in third gear all this time. (It’s a “D” for Drive, how was I supposed to know the D with the circle around it was the regular drive gear?) Anyway, the car’s all set. I’m ready for fall.

Bring it on.