my first sexy dress in years (lyn)

I had opened my window last night and when I awoke this morning my room was a chilly 53 degrees.  Karen and I had planned on walking, but with a temperature of 17 degrees, and windy, we decide to skip it.

Around ten, I leave my house and walk the mile to my eye doctor’s office.  The cold, which I always love, is brutal because of the wind.  But still it feels healthy.  The lasik surgery I got in 2000 has not deteriorated as my vision is still 20/20 in both eyes, although I do need reading glasses.  My pupils are dilated, as part of the routine check-up, and I leave wearing dark sunglasses.  As soon as the outside light hits my eyes, I am barely able to see.

I need to return something at Bloomingdales so I stop by after my visit to the doctor’s.  As I'm leaving the store, I spot a dress that would not have caught my eye three months ago.  It’s a form-fitting-very-tight-dress with a square neckline by Roberto Cavalli.  It’s sexy.  It’s a zebra striped print.  And I hope it looks as good on as it does off.

I try it on, and am surprised by how nice I look in it. Even from the back.  I’m thinking I could maybe wear it: to the Horace Mann Benefit in May, a reunion of sorts that I may go to in September in Boston, and on a date (if I ever have one again).  It also packs well, is good for any season (it’s mostly cotton-with some spandex), can be dressed up or worn down, and is priced reasonably.  My mother is always telling me to dress more sexily, and this is definitely a sexy dress.

But my pupils are still dilated and I’m not seeing all that clearly so I need to be sure.  I step out of the dressing room, and the saleswoman immediately tells me how much she loves the dress on.  But because she is, after all, my saleswoman, I search further for assurance.  A youngish man happens to be mulling around, so I ask him.  “It fits beautiful,” he says.  (You mean beautifully, I want to say but don’t).  I’m so thrilled with his answer.

The dress makes me feel good.  It reminds me of how I used to look.  It tells me that my shape is coming back.  It says I can be sexy again.

I come home and eat a few seedless grapes for lunch.