In late September/early October my wife decided to spend two weeks at a health spa. Four of my relatives had gone and my wife wanted to give it a try. I could have joined her but doing a lot of exercise classes just isn’t my thing, so I just stayed home and made “alternative plans”.
And by “alternative plans”, in addition to my normal coaching, golfing, running and biking, it meant more Dee time. I will be writing about several of those “alternative plans” over the next couple of Sun-Dee’s.
I let my GG friends Michelle and Ms Dee-ism know I would be extra available for the two weeks. To my surprise, Ms. Dee-ism texted me suggesting a shopping trip. I replied that was great and if we chose a Mon-Dee Michelle might be able to join us. Michelle loved the idea and immediately said yes.
Ms Dee-ism is the only person from my boy world whom I’ve told about my secret, back in April 2022. She was honored that I shared the information with her, and has been incredibly supportive. She also likes word plays, creating many of the Dee-ism’s I use and have written about.
Although we had swapped a ton a texts, and I shared pictures with her, and she reads my Sun-Dee offerings bright and early every Sun-Dee, since the approximately 18 months when I did the big reveal, she had never seen me in person. Being face-to-face with her meant a lot to me–and that she suggested the shopping trip was also a big positive. Plus, shopping with Michelle is always fun.
Side note: When I outed myself to Ms Dee-ism I gave her a gift card to Michelle’s salon, because I wanted the two of them to meet. Ms Dee-ism suggested I could come along too and get my nails done also. I answered that if I went they couldn’t talk about me, to which Ms Dee-ism answered back “oh we are definitely going to talk about you.” Fortunately, Michelle and Ms Dee-ism hit it off (I have good taste in friends).
We arranged to meet Mon-Dee at nine at Michelle’s house. Ms Dee-ism had never seen Michelle’s house–nor met Michelle’s dog Harley–and it made for a convenient meeting spot. After Michelle finished her morning coffee, we headed for our chosen destination, the Clothes Mentor in South County, St. Louis. Michelle and I had been there before (had we ever!), but Ms Dee-ism had never been, and was looking forward to it. As I have written before, Clothes Mentor is an upscale resale shop, with generally nicer things and slightly higher prices.
I was a bit nervous about what to wear. My friend of thirty years was seeing my alter ego for the first time in person, and I wanted to pick something nice, because it was important to me. I chose a Princess Highway black dress, because it’s simple and cute. I also wore my hat, because Ms Dee-ism loves my hat (I love it too).
I was looking for something to wear to Las Vegas, Ms Dee-ism was looking for something shiny to wear with her niece and her niece’s daughter to see the Taylor Swift concert movie, and Michelle was looking for everything (OK, it just seemed that way).
Between Clothes Mentor and the Plato’s Closet next door (Plato’s is also a resale shop, but targeted at the youth demographic) we spent about two hours. Speaking of spending, Michelle bought the most, after getting the collective opinion of Ms Dee-ism and myself. Ms Dee-ism found a couple of shiny tops appropriate for her TSwift fandom, and I found the black top and red skirt combo (that I wore on the plane to Dee-Va Las Vegas, as a nod to Michelle and Ms Dee-ism for helping me find them), and a floral halter/shift dress we all three agreed upon.
Plus, Ms. Dee-ism found a love for Clothes Mentor and wants to return.
As to that, I’m all in–and maybe Michelle will want to tag along too.
