Just Amazing!

People never cease to amaze me and frankly, I am always amazed at how quickly I make friends. On August 11, 2022 I began my day with a trip to Common Threads, a fabulous thrift store in Brookpark, Ohio. I went there for one specific reason. I was there two weeks prior in male mode, on my way home from work. Every Thursday all clothing is 50% off. There was a stunning wedding dress in the window, just beautiful and my size! But I didn’t want to buy it without trying it on and I wasn’t dressed for that. Renee, who is now a dear friend, said she would help me try it on if I came back. She told be she was on vacation the following week, so I put it on my calendar and headed back. The dress was only $45 and I would have purchased it for half of that!

Well, the dress was sold (☹) so I began on one single dress rack grabbing dress after dress to try on. Renee was going to be give me the thumbs up or down as I tried on one after another. I walked out in this size 8 purple Lauren dress and started playing the model. Renee, one of her co-workers and about five ladies who were shopping all gave their approval. Over the span of about an hour, I tried on and purchased about seven dresses, walked around the store for all to see, got to know each of the ladies and collected quite a few hugs. I joked with a few ladies near the dressing room. I apologized for monopolizing one dressing room, but told them they’d been able to do this all their lives and that I came to this late in the game. All laughed! I was helping a girl in the adjacent dressing room judge different outfits she was trying on, along with her Mom and Aunt. One outfit Mom said looked a little hippy, to which I said I wish I had her hips, mine were sitting in a box back home!

Things like this have happened to me many times before, they always fill me with such joy. A few of the ladies hugged me multiple times and we told each other we loved each other. Loved, in the way human beings should love all and if they did, we’d have none of the foolishness going on in our world. There was definitely love in that store and I am proud to say, I was the catalyst for it. All those ladies went home feeling good and all had a story to tell about this woman they met that day. Every one knew who and what I am and everyone treated me like a woman and always called me she.

Time to head to “work” at the art museum. No real story to spin here, but as always, it is a treat to be out, to meet the general public and to be treated as the woman I am.

Then I drove from Cleveland to just north of Akron to get together again with my BFF Sherry (you remember her, she used to post here). We sat and chatted, laughed, drank and ate and as always, I love her company!

Finally, I reported for my second volunteer shift for the day, at Weathervane Theater. Again, I was tending bar, but mainly I was talking with patrons, actually more valuable in the big picture. One lovely woman walked straight up to the bar and told me I was beautiful. No, I know what you are thinking, she hadn’t yet had a drink. She remembered me from my pre-pandemic work there. She even remembered an outfit I wore (no, I cannot remember what I had for breakfast, I don’t remember the outfit), You guessed it, hugs ensued! Her son-in-law is now her daughter-in-law, so we connected on that level. I had an extended conversation with another woman about her mother who has dementia. I apologized to my “boss” for yakking (she knew what I was doing is important). I explained to her that people just feel very comfortable talking to me about almost anything.

It’s amazing the stuff I get away with. No one should be as lucky as I am, it’s not fair. It’s all about clean living, cute outfits, a suspect memory and my smile. That smile is gold Jerry, gold!