I’ve written before about how I first thought I could never go out, and then I thought I could NEVER go out in summer.
For me, that’s a problem, because I get two summers: a North American Midwest summer, and a second Australian summer.
Then I realized how cute summer dresses are. I tried one on and decided it wasn’t a bad look.
Yes, I’m going to show my boy shoulders with strappy dresses–and I decided I didn’t care. Yes, I have some tennis tan lines–but occasionally taking my shirt off during a run would blur the lines a bit. Yes, summer heat meant bare legs, but that’s what razors and Nair are for (ditto for bare arms and bare shoulders).
I also discovered the more exposed skin, the cooler I was, to offset the extra heat from my wig. No, it’s not complete immunization against hot, sunny days, but it helps to cope with the heat.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve continually added to my collection of summer dresses. Unlike more formal dresses, which become rarer and rarer these days, summer dresses seem to still be popular, and thus available at thrift stores, like my current favorite Refresh.
And once I buy them, I have to wear them somewhere, don’t I?
Back in May, we had summer heat without it actually being summer on the calendar. I had a chance to wear a couple of Refresh purchases, both priced under $15 or so.
The first was a blue polka dress that I wore to a St. Louis Gender Foundation monthly luncheon. Our lunches are on the second Saturdays of each month, including the summer months.
I’ve become bolder over time about using the family rooms at our local YMCAs to dress. Our membership covers multiple locations, so I will often choose a location I don’t visit very often, where people and staff don’t know me. That day, I played tennis in the morning, drove to the Y, walked in as a boy and strolled out as a girl.
Of course, at lunch I had to get the obligatory selfie with my drink. Kandi rejects my blog posts unless I have one (I kid, I kid). And after the lunch I usually visit a nearby mall, to see what the latest “gotta have” item lurking on the racks.
The following mid-weekday I decided to wear another new purchase to the St. Louis Zoo. I like zoos, and one very likeable thing about the St. Louis Zoo is that it’s free. I wore a green denim sundress I had found about a month before at Refresh. I arrived around lunchtime, bought my lunch at a concession stand, and enjoyed my meal next to a shady lake with a number of birds.
