An Expression that Came True During the Pandemic…

” I’m Never Taking This Off” !

Dear Reader:

It is true confession time and I hope you readers don’t leave me hanging on this observation turned reality. Was I the only one who wore the same outfit more than once on a fairly continuous basis in 2000 and even some now?

Please no negative judgments -the decision to ” double dip ” the same attire as the day before just started making good ” horse sense” to me. After all it is just me who has to look at me most days and the same look doesn’t bother me. To my way of thinking my physical features are permanently identical each day-so why not the attire covering it?

I think the idea started last winter during the pandemic when I was still having groceries delivered and rarely left the house except for oncology appointments and window pick-up medicines and occasionally fast food. We had a cold, wet winter and one morning while changing turtle necks while goose bumps popped out all over me-I stopped to think how silly it was to keep a daily ritual that no longer made sense to continue. How dirty could I have gotten sitting in a recliner, writing, reading and watching television.

At that point no one was coming in the house-items dropped on the porch were left until they left and I picked them up.

These days while I am getting out more-I am rarely seeing the same people every day so again why change an entire outfit unless I have been working in the garden on warm days and/ or planting in the dirt.

Another thing I have noticed people are largely unobservant-for instance last week my neighbor across the street bumped into me while we were checking the mail and complimented me on a blouse I was wearing-to my embarrassment the exact same thing re- occurred the next day. I could feel my face growing red as she complimented the blouse again . I decided to come clean and told her she had liked the blouse the day before and she started laughing and told me to wear it again the next day too so she could enjoy it again!

Don’t we all remember trying on a dress or gown -perhaps a new Easter dress when we were little or our first prom dress as we grew older-saying ( as we stared in the mirror) ” I am never taking this off” -guess what? With the pandemic some of us are doing just that! 😆

I will say I have given away more clothing to charity this past year than ever before and bought less clothing than ever before in my life. For me retirement is coming to mean less “attirement!”

So until tomorrow..

” When you are most simple-is when you feel really free. “

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

My hisciscus is returning! Hope the insects that destroyed it last year ( no matter what I tried) don’t return also…

Let’s not forget…

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to An Expression that Came True During the Pandemic…

  1. Rachel Edwards says:

  2. Lynn Gamache says:

    Loved your observations today, Becky. How true. If something is beautiful, often it is “simply beautiful” and needs to be left that way….or worn again….and again!! The older I get (into my 75 year now) I find that I care less about how I might look in a certain outfit or pair of shoes. For me now it’s much more about comfort and affordability. Thus I shop often at Salvation Army thrift stores and wear clothes that are comfortable and “simply beautiful”….often several times in one week!

    • Becky Dingle says:

      Thanks for not leaving me “hanging” out there alone on this topic….from television interviews and funny commercials I think lots of people worked at home barefoot where zoom didn’t catch their feet,or men only in shirts and ties above the desk or blouses and stylish hair keeping women the bottom half of a camera obscured in shorts and pj bottoms. I saw where clothes purchases were down…even on-line because people, like me, who didn’t work outside the home during the pandemic just wore big comfy clothes more than daily…because there was no one coming inside to observe the repetition…I am already starting to miss it…I am getting out more and growing more conscious again of the repetition…but really…does it matter that much what others think…we are free to be….comfy! 🙂

Leave a Reply to Lynn GamacheCancel reply