I'm On a Roll or How I finally Learned to Pack Light and Still Look Spiffy

Now that I am retired I spend a lot of time in casual clothes.  Planning a trip to see my kids and grandkids on the east coast required me to reassess my old, out-dated work wardrobe.  Since I now have more time to exercise and cook healthful meals, the professional clothes I used to wear also are mostly too large.  Good news, right?

One great jacket to the rescue.  I was determined to pack light: Talbot’s “Twinkle, Grace-fit”, a linen-metallic blend, was stylish, dressed up or worn as “smart casual” with everything I packed.

My east coast trip began in New York City where my younger son, now works.  I felt perfectly dressed, my Twinkle jacket, with sliver jewelry, over a little black dress, I dined in chic restaurants.  Wearing casual slacks, spiffed up by the sparkle jacket, I saw the sights as my son showed me around the Big Apple

After a wonderful visit, I went by train to Providence RI, to see my older son, a graduate student, his wife and my two beautiful grandchildren.  Again my versatile jacket, with dressy slacks, was perfect at the Siddur program at my granddaughter’s school, or with nice jeans touring the Rhode Island Museum of Design with my daughter-in-law.

On to Boston for a weekend of sightseeing with a best friend from high school.  At the “Top of the Hub” Prudential Tower, again wearing the perfect jacket, this time with a colorful top for accent, we enjoyed the view.  The menu was so enticing we stayed for an elegant dinner.  After a day of trolley-hopping from one historic sight to the next, cruising the Harbor, eating lunch at “Cheers”, and touring the JFK Museum, we rounded out our trip with a Boston seafood dinner. Again, perfectly attired in my Talbot’s jacket.

Before my trip, a friend had given us last minute tickets to Churchill Downs.  My new jacket, elegantly accompanied by a bright hat and pin I already owned, went to the “Oaks”, the day of racing before the Kentucky Derby.  To give my sons and their significant others a horse to root for, I placed four $2 bets” to win” on “Animal Kingdom” for the next day’s Kentucky Derby.

On Derby Day, when the long-shot Animal Kingdom roared to victory, I knew I was on a roll.  Wearing my lucky sparkle jacket on this trip, I played forward my luck as I gave my sons and their “best girls” their winnings.

 

Dorothy’s Idea of the Day: Why don’t we all share our luck?  When you win, play it forward by sharing some of it with someone else.  As hokey as it may sound, it makes us all winners.