The Great Closet Clean Out

"Yah, so let's theme it like 'Sex and the City' and have signs on hand, lots of girl love and of course, adult beverages!" we giggled over lunch, plotting our much anticipated Saturday afternoon together. For six years, D had been lamenting over her closet, torn between wanting to tidy up and curl up with her t-shirts from the 90s for all of their memories and comfortable goodness. Her past year torn by grief, sacrifice and sprinkled with some gratitude, the time had come for: the great closet clean out.

With the "rules" laid out in advance, some talking off a cliff and a check in to see if she was pscyhologically ready, we dove in.

And dove in we did.

The requirements were simple:
1) Toss: stains, those that shall not be repaired, ill-fitting, that which is completely outdated for our hot 40-something friend, that which hadn't been worn in more than a year or that which just wasn't acceptable for the public eye.

2) Keep: those with extreme sentiment, sassy, well-fitting clothes appropriate for her age and style, functional, useful items for her active life and that which made sense for spending endless amounts of hours doing accounting work in front of a PC.

D approached it like a rockstar, tearing through try-ons, growing excited about her recent weight loss and being open to feedback and comments from her three very different girls. As the piles of hangers grew, we shared phrases like "you're too hot for that!" or "I think that's a bit matronly," to "I'm NOT parting with that - nonegotiable" to "I just wore that yesterday" to make our decisions. Items of note included a red crepe suite, many elastic waistbands, a denim jumper and overalls and a sparkly ensemble there just weren't words to describe. Carrie Bradshaw herself couldn't even pull those bad boys off...

C and D2 perched nearby, their fingers working madly over keyboard keys and hems as one took inventory for donations while the other furiously folded. Soon the tally became nearly $800 dollars and C's car took on nearly 10 lawn sized bags of clothing goodness to help women in need.

There may have been a break in there that included freshly baked chocolate chip bars, hummus, shrimp cocktail and a few beers...

As the rain fell outside her bathroom windows, so too did years of holding on to things when she'd been dreaming of letting go, freeing up her closet for her new ideas, new life and well, new...clothes. Even her husband was astounded, doing frequent drive bys with a look of disbelieve coupled with humor. Leaving her with a pile of hangers we departed, hopeful her brave, productive afternoon was all she anticipated it to be for such an amazing, deserving Mom of three, wife extraordinaire and girlfriend for life.

So next time you or a friend are ready to take the plunge and purge, don't call Bravo or rely on yourself, call your genuine gal pals. Because we could all use a little help from our friends.

Proud of you D!