Shopping When Old

I am referring to myself.

Last week a J. Jill catalog arrived in the mail and I went through it, bending page corners back for all of the gorgeous things I just knew I wanted. And that I knew I would look wonderful in. No shorts---two knee surgeries on one knee have rendered that knee, um....unattractive. So dresses! Perfect solution! (Sorry for all the exclamation points---I was really, really excited to find these clothes.)

Look at this dress. Isn't it Gaw-Jus?!
And with this cropped sweater? Even GAW-JUS-ER!
And this dress! I must have it!!!
And this dress!
Look at the colors! I love the colors!!!
They would all look great on me. I just knew it.

And then I went to the store. And then I tried them all on. And OMG....not what I expected. AT. ALL.

They looked great on the models. They even looked great on the hangers. On me, they didn't look great. They didn't even look good. They looked awful. Can you say frumpy? Can you say dowdy? Can you say Old Lady in MuuMuu?

Oh, dear.

But I did buy two tops. Tops that are tunic length. Tops with sleeves. Long sleeves.

How to recover from the realization that I am not twenty years younger and twenty pounds lighter? How to stop the wailing, the gnashing of teeth, the moaning, the whining?

Thank goodness for knitting friends. SallyKnit called while I was still at the store to see if I wanted to join her and Lucille to go to a knit shop, not our LYS but a different one.

Perfect. So off we went and I bought yarn to make this dress for Elizabeth, my three-year old granddaughter.

She is young. She is slim.

The dress will look GREAT on her. And this time I know I'm right.