Datebook: Wednesday, August 23rd ~ 2006

As I peruse my closet, I am reminded of Dickens and “A Christmas Carol”.

Not just because things look out of date. I, like most woman, have three sizes in my closet; the size I used to be, the size I am now but don’t admit to, and a few things that are the size I want to be that I got at a “one day” sale.

No, the whole Dickens connection comes from looking at the costumes of seasons past that hang in my closet. They are stored in my closet because my daughter has been able to move on, and I am the one hanging on, therefore I get the ‘hanger’ so to speak.

We have sold several of her juvenile and intermediate dance dresses. And this is not an easy task. We don’t have a real “marketing venue” for used costumes, there are no annual “yard sales”, although I have considered setting up a table as you walk in the doors at the rink at Placid—(Street Level before the steps!)—maybe a co-op.

No, the main culprits for my ghosts of seasons past, are the tiny no-test costumes. These are from the time era when most of us thought this was a still only a “hobby”. Remember those days? Skates were only 500.00. Costumes were about 150.00. There were only 2 or 3 lessons a week. And no-test programs were only 1 minute in duration.

Would we have believed it if someone had told us 10 years ago how it would be evolve to be what it is today?

This might be a generational concept though. My mother can’t believe I pay for bottles of water each day.

Those cost more than juice or soda and you have it running free right there. If you turned on the faucet and orange juice came out, you wouldn’t buy Tropicana would you?”

““This is better.”

“Why?”

“Well, this is pure. Spring Water.”

“Did you read the label? It’s bottled in Jersey.”

“It’s easier to carry.”

“Really. How about I go buy a case of water and drink it, and then refill all the bottles for 1.00 each. I’ll just keep refilling the bottles, putting them in the frig so they’re cold…”

“Mom, you can’t sanitize the bottles properly like that”

“Really. Don’t you put your forks in the dishwasher everyday? You take them out and they’re clean, you don’t have each one assigned to people because someone else ate off of it?”

Okay, so maybe even if we did know, we still would have taken the same path. The little tikes costumes from those early days still brings smiles to our faces, and as MasterCard would say, these are “priceless” memories.

My mom, on the other hand, keeps a mental register tape going, of the returned half-used water bottles left in the skating bag.

“I water the house plants with this,” I offer to her raised eyebrows.

“That’s good,” she replies, “I’ve heard they have nice vegetables on the Jersey shore.”

Mombo #9