Most of the unnecessary things I own are for wearing, like the too-expensive sexy sandals I bought last month to wear to my college reunion. I didn’t wear them because it was a day of hard rain. I’ve yet to wear them, but I like having them and daydreaming about where I might wear them.
The other day I stopped in a a local store “Groovy Blueberry,” where I made a spur of the moment purchase of something exotically unnecessary. I don’t even know what it’s called. It’s sort of a cross between a fringed shawl and a diaphanous coat — made of cut velveteen and chiffon-y fabric, with long flownig sleeves and fringe everywhere there’s an edge. It’s black with soft rose and green cabbage roses. The owner of the store was there when I bought it, and she said that she wears hers with everything, including jeans and a tank top. It looks like something Zelda Firtzgerald might have worn at soirees on the Riviera. Hey, you never know.
I do know that I’ll be driving up to Albany next weekend to gather with some of my women friends and head out to the charity screening (to benefit Equality Now) of the Joss Whedon movie, Serenity. This is a necessary trip for lots of reasons — not only supporting my son’s success in coordinating similar screenings in more than 40 cities around the world, but also getting together with my women friends, both for the movie and for a “girls day in” the next day. We’ll spend the day hanging around one of their pools, drinking mimosas, gossiping, eating whatever we all bring, and laughing a lot — just like we used to do a lot more often, before I moved away and, in doing so, changed the group dynamics.
Friends are very important. And very necessary.
Maybe I’ll wear those sandals.