Search for perfect dress ended at home

MARY LONG MOBLEY

Contributing Columnist

Editor’s note: The following is part of a continuing series in which we ask readers to share a true story with us—any story— as long as it happened to them or a family member. Do you have a story to tell? Send it news@powhatantoday.com.

When my husband and I were invited to a semi-formal work-related event, I sailed into dress mode like a 16-year-old dreaming of prom night, envisioning chic bliss in the perfect dress, albeit in a Beverly Hillbillies sort of way. Thus the search began. I ransacked racks of clothes at department stores and dress shops where I found selections in small sizes a pittance compared to the abundance in size 16. My choices were also limited by my ever-pragmatic frame of mind that refused to let me pay an outrageous amount for an outfit I would likely wear only once.

When my shopping efforts produced no workable results and my options were dwindling, I dropped in on a secondhand boutique of gentlyused designer castoffs. There I came close to snatching a spaghettistrapped bargain but its floor-length made it too formal, and shortening the hem would have ruined the lines. Next I persuaded my husband to come with me to a bridal shop where the sweetest salesgirl hung a mix of styles in my fitting room, including some that were cut to flatter Marilyn Monroe’s curves or Tina Turner’s legs. After flinging more than half a dozen dresses off hangers and over my head, I walked out the door empty-handed alongside my husband, both of us downtrodden and exhausted.

On the way to the car, he said to me, “As well as you can sew, you ought to just make a dress.” I responded by telling him

We Want To

that I would not even consider such an undertaking, even though I could handle a needle and thread quite well and had been in stitches most of my life.

I reminded him that I grew up poor and wore homemade clothes out of necessity, and that I still associated one with the other, and that through hard work I had risen above my meager beginnings and left my homemade clothes

Please see MOBLEY, Page 7

Local Lodge

Donates Socks To Clothes Closet

dan Linnabary, Worshipful Master of dewitt Clinton Masonic Lodge #141, recently provided a donation of over 115 pairs of socks to Rhonda Weaver, GoochlandCares Clothes Closet Manager. dewitt Clinton Masonic Lodge is located at 1800 Hawk town Rd, in Maidens. The Lodge meets on the third Thursday of each month, with dinner starting at 6:30 p.m. anyone interested in what the lodge is all about is encouraged to join the group for dinner or send an email to dwclinton@gmail.com.

Letter To The Editor

Extension Office a true asset to Goochland

Dear Editor,

888-0449 Fax – (804) 344-8746 online: www.goochlandgazette.com

Publisher Joy Monopoli ......................................... jmonopoli@RSnVa.com

Editor Roslyn Ryan rryan@goochlandgazette.com

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My wife and I had the pleasure of attending the Goochland County Ag Fair this spring, and recently I was able to attend a Pond Workshop coordinated by the Goochland County Extension Office. I was impressed by the great information available for residents at both of these programs. Particular thanks to Bob Whitehead, Nicole Shuman, and Mackenzie Gunn for the expertise they shared. The Extension Office offers many wonderful programs and services from which residents will benefit.

Doug Knapp Goochland