Dear Big Black Suitcase:
I haven’t laid eyes on you since Aug. 1 when I left home at 3 a.m. for a “cruise-of-a-lifetime” to the Mediterranean and handed you over to the United airlines rep at the Charleston airport.
You may be a beat-up, generic suitcase like so many others, but you mean the world to me because you hold all my favorite clothes:
- The #1 lifetime favorite pair of black pants that makes me feel thin and that people compliment me on.
- Ten tops that skim over my muffin-top. Four of them were brand new, never worn — and they came from a real department store! (I love my thrift store bargains, but losing stuff from a real store really hurts…)
- My top 10 pairs of “dressy” shorts
- My two favorite LBDs (little black dresses) with matching jackets that I wear for special occasions and feel so good in
- The fun and funky collection of earrings that my friend J made for me; they match all my clothes!
- My favorite workout shorts, nightgown, makeup, curling iron, bathing suit and beach cover-up, 10 pairs of new socks (!), best undies, and much, much more…
Gone forever.
I was forced to wear the same two pairs of black capris and two tops during 10 days in Europe. (My friend said we only had to take two photos of me – one in each outfit.)
But I had to buy a new little suitcase to bring home all the souvenirs!
I’m home now, lost luggage, and (sadly) forced to wear my second-string clothes all the time.
They just don’t give me the boost of self-confidence that the clothes you hold do, wherever you are.
And last — but not least — I paid $25 to be reunited with you in Venice so we could “do Europe” together.
I showed up. Where were you????
—
–Mark Russell
—
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