February 5
Only three entries for 2/5!
1965
I finished my yellow wool dress and wore it today - I'm wild about it! It turned out great! I got lots of compliments. It gets me embarrassed, though. I don't know what to say after I've said "thank you". In gym we played basketball - or started, at least. I sat for Ks tonight - $1.50 more.
Comment 2023
I have a vivid memory of that yellow wool dress. The fabric was a herringbone tweed, and it featured a flared skirt, a dropped waist and a double-breasted bodice. Pretty sophisticated for high school, and also a complex choice for a beginning seamstress. It really did turn out very well.
So tell me, teenage Jo, why there are no photos of this awesome creation? It wasn’t just the compliments that made me embarrassed. It was the dress itself. The skirt was lined and made a swishing sound when I walked. The neckline was low enough that I wore it with a turtleneck dickey. It required stockings and dressy shoes, and I usually preferred knee socks and flat casuals. I doubt I wore it to school after that February day. It was very nice, but it wasn’t me.
The dress:
Me at 15:
1978 (Grad school)
Things are fine again; Jim admitted to have been out of sorts and depressed last week. Mostly about work. We walked up to the grocery store Saturday morning. It was quite cold, and we decided to leave the car rather than run it such a short time. We were out juice, cereal and coffee, so we stopped at IHOP for breakfast. The walk gave us a chance to talk, and by the time we got home, we were fast friends again.
I read a lot this weekend, and sewed some on Jim’s shirt. Last night I read “I, Claudius”. I knew Jim wanted to read it, too, so I just sat down and did all 425 pages in 7 hours. But I did not read Econ, French, or history, so today must get back to work. Reading fiction is so much more interesting.
Comment 2024
Only three entries for 2/5! The only common thread from the 60s and the 70s is sewing (ha ha). It’s been months since I hauled out the machine, even though I have growing pile of projects in that corner of the closet. These days I am fixated on using up some of my yarn stash with some small items. Here’s January:
Also: the memory of our little drama warms my heart.
1998
The storm is waiting. It was quite a blustery one! The kind that renders umbrellas useless. In fact, the kind that makes it impossible stay dry when I'm walking to campus. I really don't think I will make it to three pages this morning. I feel sleepy and empty and it is an effort to write. But I will try, like I used to when I ran the 440 in phys ed. I remember the one time that I actually ran the whole thing. The last third was agony. My feet and legs felt like lead. It took all my concentration to put one foot in front of the other, to look ahead and try to cheer myself on by measuring the distance Remaining. That's what I am doing now, forcing words down my arm and through the pen onto the paper. I turn the page; only two more! I realize that writing is a miraculous invention. To be able to capture a thought, and pin it down on the paper is an amazing feat. Most of what I have done so far today – – my “routine” – – would be amazing 100 years ago
I listen to the radio, hearing part of Beethoven's Egmont Overture. Imagine! Having beautiful music at my fingertips anytime I wish. I heated my coffee in the microwave, and poured in creamer from my well-stocked electric refrigerator. The coffee and my English muffins were prepared using electricity. My daughter attends school and is preparing for college. I couldn't assume college when I was in high school, and my grandmother was fortunate to graduate from high school.
Later: And here I am at 10:20 PM. A long day, and cold and dreary. But I finish the day with a real sense of hope maybe I should believe in miracles. After all I gave birth to two of them.
2024
There may be only three entries for 2/5, but look at 2/6…
I, Claudius always reminds me of the Monsterpiece Theater that you had to explain to me: “Me Claudius!” “No, ME Claudius!”