When Kari came for a week's visit and our annual family Christmas get together the end of July, she came out of the guest bedroom saying, "I brought you something, Mommy". I looked up to see this:
It took me a moment to recognize the red sweater from my high school days! I didn't even remember that she had worn it during her high school and college days nor knew that she had kept it all these years.
My freshman year of high school I wanted a fancy dress for the Homecoming Dance. I picked out some purple taffeta and a pattern and Mom made me a lovely gown. I went to the first big dance of the year hoping to have a good time. Unfortunately, a pretty dress did not make me any less of a wall flower. It also was not a dress that I had many occasions to wear.
My sophomore year I decided to be practical. I ordered a red, black and yellow plaid skirt and a red sweater from a catalog. They arrived in the mail October 11, 1958, making this sweater almost 61 years old. I wore it to the homecoming dance October 17 and many times more. It was practical and pretty and I felt much more like myself than I had in taffeta.
Kari and I wore one another's clothes during her years at Valley High School. When she went away to Macalester College in St. Paul, she took Le Chandail Rouge with her. Here she is wearing it one weekend when she brought her roommate, Carla, home for a visit.
When I saw my sweater again after about 30 years, I said, "You know what we should do? Take it with us to Katrina's for Christmas in July and get her to wear it."
Which we did - three generations wearing that old red sweater. If I had been thinking, I would have asked Lily to put it on too and we'd have had four generations.
Maybe next year. And then we could see how many generation this could carry on. Wouldn't that be fun?
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