PLAYING DRESS UP
This photo was made when I was about 9 years old—the only recorded picture of me all decked out from head to toe in Mother’s clothes. She was a little picky about letting anyone wear her clothes even just to play “dress up” but occasionally I persuaded her. This outfit—except for the floral hat—looks more like funeral garb than a festive outfit.
The only thing missing is some of her costume jewelry—maybe she drew the line at her jewelry box! She wore clip earrings, lots of necklaces and brooches. They were inexpensive but always coordinated with her clothes each season. Knowing how much she loved dogwoods, friends and family gave her quite a few dogwood pins and earrings over the years.
I really loved her black purse I’m carrying in this photo. It had a curved tortoise shell trim at the top that I thought was elegant. Also, clogging around in high heels that were much too large was fun and a bit dangerous.
A favorite pastime when a girlfriend or my niece Patsy visited was creating dramatic skits. We would dress up and create the script as we went along. Sometimes we would get caught up in the story line so much that we’d wonder how it was going to end! We specialized in intrigue, mystery and heartbreak. The crying scenes could get messy.Dressing up, imagining, and pretending—all a necessary part of a girl’s everyday life.
Seeing a story 