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Mar
19
Slips in Storage
Filed Under Natural Curl
My granddaddy’s sisters lived a l-o-n-g life, well into their 90s. Closer to 100.
When the last of the 3 girls died, we found box after box after box protecting new-still-with-the-tags-on lingerie. Satins. Lace. Every color imaginable. Slips from the 1940s that were addictive to the touch. We found hundreds of boxes of Rexall brand tissues, most turned back into trees. There were enough bottles of Jergens lotion to moisturize the skin of every woman and child in the southern hemisphere for the next 55 years. Napkins enough to supply every restaurant and hold-in-the-wall this side of California for at least one year, maybe two. And there were empty boxes, too, because as Aunt Rene always said, “Darlin’, you just never can tell when you might need a good box.”
Now it’s not unusual that older people hoard things - especially those who survived The Great Depression - but these girls didn’t wait till they got old. These girls had been hoarding since way before the 1940s. To say they had sticky fingers is a gross understatement - they held onto everything their fingers touched, and once they touched it, they held on forever.
I rented a dumpster and tossed the Rexall brand tissues. I threw away all the slivers of soap they melted in a pie tin atop the 6-8 sets of china Aunt Lucy owned, but I’m not embarrassed to tell you that I held onto that lingerie. There’s just something about those things I couldn’t turn loose of. It’s not because I’m sentimental about Aunt Lucy - she wasn’t a particularly nice person. And it’s not cause I’m sentimental about the era ’cause I wasn’t even an idea then. It’s not cause I have any intention of wearing them because the lingerie is a size l, and I am not.
I remembered those slips today when I was e-chatting with Fran, and I wondered (again) why on earth I still have them taking up space in my closet. To this very day, the best I can offer is that it’s just “one of those things.”
Hmmmmmm. I wonder how they’d look as a quilt . . .
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are they silk?
jude: some are
if I lived anywhere near you I don’t think I’ve be able to control myself. Would have to invite myself over to look at them …
well, acey, come on down! any time. we’ll have ourselves a fine slips on parade. complete with sweet tea . . . or maybe even a mint julep.