That's Life: New Coats, New HopesBy Phyllis McGuire
iBerkshires Columnist
08:07PM / Sunday, March 23, 2008
A plaque with a bunny holding the greeting, "Happy Easter" adorns my front door. And I have decorated my living room with ceramic bunnies, chicks and eggs that my children, Jennifer and Christopher, crafted when they were school age. Yes, I am looking forward to Easter.
But with Easter falling on March 23 this year, I broke with tradition and did not buy a new spring outfit. Officially it may be spring, but we Berkshireites know the calendar does sometimes lie.
I do hope, however, that the weather Easter Sunday will be kind enough to permit me to shed my warmest winter coat. That coat, almost ankle length, with a plush lining and high collar, keeps me cozy even when the temperature plummets to zero. After much use this winter, the coat does not look fresh anymore, but I dared not leave it at the dry cleaners while wicked weather attacked the Northeast.
I planned to wear on Easter Sunday a pink winter coat I bought during a week I was on Long Island, enjoying the Christmas holiday with my daughter, Jennifer, and her family.
At the time, I already owned four winter coats and did not intend to add another to my wardrobe but ... . The day after Christmas my daughter and I drove to a Burlington Coat Factory to return a jacket that had turned out to be the wrong size for her husband. That exchange made, I suggested that Jennifer shop for a new winter coat for herself - my treat.
As she looked through the coats on a rack, she came upon one that was my size. "Mommy, try this on," she said. I resisted, "I don't need another coat."
"Oh come on, you love pink."
She was right, so I gave in and slipped into the coat. It was a good fit and I could no longer resist.
In the past, I have worn many a new spring outfit to Easter Mass. I especially liked my aqua Empire coat, a style Jacqueline Kennedy resurrected as first lady. And I received lots of compliments on a white loose-fitting coat I wore when I was pregnant with Jennifer.
There was a time when it was the vogue to wear matching accessories - blue stockings, gloves, handbag and hat. The lingerie shops carried stockings in every color of the rainbow plus more: pink, purple, green, red, orange, rose, champagne, indigo.
The most important accessory, of course, was the Easter Hat." I love hats, and gladly donned whatever was in style, including berets, cloches, pillboxes, and picture hats bedecked with flowers.
In the long ago when my two sisters and I were children, Mother waited until the last minute to buy our Easter outfits, in order to take advantage of huge sales stores would hold.
Feet aching, we would walk from store to store as we searched for the best bargains. Sometimes by the time we were choosing shoes, our feet would be swollen, and we would grimace as we tentatively squeezed them into our regular size.
"You better just sit here a while, and then try them on again, Mother would say. "I don't want to get you a bigger size only to have them flopping up and down when you wear them on Easter."
One year Mother selected a blue fedora hat for me to wear with a plaid tailored suit. I wore that hat, shall we say, under protest. You know, Mother insisting it went well with the suit, and me whining "I don't like it." Even then, I preferred dressing in a more feminine fashion and, to this day, I am not comfortable wearing pants.
While I like dressing up for Easter, I garner the most pleasure from seeing youngsters in their Easter outfits - little girls in pastel frocks and patent leather shoes, boys in blue blazers over white shirts with bowties at the neck, and toddlers in Eton suits and knee socks.
Hopefully, the sun will shine this Easter Sunday so that youngsters may enjoy hunting for Easter eggs on the lawns of their homes and houses of worship.
At church, as we Christians celebrate the Risen Lord, we will sing out in thanksgiving for the gift of everlasting life He offers us, through his sacrifices. We will also pray for the safe return of our servicemen who are embroiled in a war that has taken them far from home.
And I, for one, will beseech God to teach us to live together in peace, whatever our religious or political beliefs. |
