Perspective

After I had my closet cleanout, I had a basket of clothes to sell/donate. I also had a bunch of clothes that I still liked but didn't love. With those, I tied a little pink yarn bow to the hanger to remind myself to rethink them in a few months.

But when I went home to Houston recently, I did a lot of shopping. It was fun. I kinda enjoy visiting Texas for the guiltless and easy living. You shop as a pastime, drive a big SUV, exist in an air-conditioned bubble, and recycle nothing. It's not the sort of place I'd want to live in for long, but it's nice to visit just for the sense of abundance in the world, illusory though that may be.

So I got some things while there. Nothing worth detailing. Just a few oversize tops at the Saks and Neiman outlet stores, and some maternity pants. Where those belly bands had once depressed me, now I welcome a comfortable pair of pants that won't sag or gape. I guess it's a matter of perspective. My midwife said I was shortwaisted, and so my belly grows almost all horizontally and not vertically. In other words, I have a huge bump, to where salespersons and waiters do a double take when I tell them when I'm actually due. I wake up in the mornings and can tell that I've grown some more. So my perspective on clothes has changed, and if it requires an elastic band to make my clothes fit, then so be it.

In other news, I found a small part-time job at a local natural foods co-op, something that seems like a bit of an adventure to me. I had already decided to take a break from teaching, and I have no desire to ever work in a cube again. Truth be told, I have a sense that I've fallen quietly off the middle track of mainstream America, and I don't know that I'll ever want to hold down a steady job again, the sort where you work towards some promotion or raise. But of course, things can always change.

I'm training alongside two people at this new job, both of whom care little for camouflage of any sort. The one girl has waistlength blonde dreadlocks that she piles on top of her head for a good extra foot of height. The boy has tattoos covering every visible surface of his body, including a necklace of cryptic letters etched from his neck to across his checks and nose. That takes some real commitment. I think he, too, will not be getting a corporate job any time soon.