tailoring

After Chad's weight loss, many of his suits were too big. Besides that, he just doesn't wear suits as often these days. But this weekend, he is doing a wedding, and needed to buy a good black suit. Since that's what I do, I normally do his alterations myself. It's been a while, so I take longer to do it than when I did this sort of thing every day. But I enjoy it.

While working on his suit, I thought back to jobs I've held and people I've worked with, and for. One of the first was Ruby, the head of the alterations department when I first went to work for Rogers Department Store. That was twenty-plus years ago, and often a customer would question my sewing ability based merely on my age. Mrs. Ruby would come to my defense like a mother hen. And among the highest compliments I've ever received were the times when I would show Mrs. Ruby a particularly challenging completed project, and she would say "You did a bang-up job on that!" (For those of you not from the South, allow me to translate: "You did a great job!")

I also thought of Melanie; she was one of the first people I met when we moved to Florida. We waited patiently, planned, plotted, and maybe even schemed a little, until the day came that I could come to work at her bridal shop. She was always so helpful, not just as an employer but as a friend. That was the last full time job I held, before Lizi was born.

And so many others; from some, I learned what to do, from some I learned what not to do.

I suppose my age has caught up to my ability, as I rarely get a sideways glance anymore when people learn I do sewing and alterations. And I don't miss having to dress up and punch a clock every day. But even though full-time mothering has its own rewards, and I wouldn't trade it for anything, sometimes an actual paycheck that I earned myself would be nice.