So there I was. In Kohl's with Rachel. Clothes shopping. Now, let me just take a minute here to point out that there are a lot of worse people to shop with than Rachel. She's really easy-going, has good taste, and loves jewelry and sparkly things almost as much as I do!
So she and I were nonchalantly browsing the various racks of clothes, scouring the clearance racks for the diamonds in the rough, and all of a sudden, Rachel asks me, "Jo, is this too old lady looking?"
I turn around, and she's holding a dress up to herself, looking at me with big innocent eyes, and in a millisecond, I was miles away, lifetimes ago, looking at my own big sister while holding something up to myself, wondering sincerely if I had made a good pick.
I've never been any good at matching up outfits or picking out clothes or color coordinating. I wasn't good at it when I was younger, and honestly, I didn't really care. It was never a huge deal to me, and I eventually I came to terms with my own ignorance.
But now...now my little sister is gazing up at me with big pitiful eyes, begging me to approve. And as surprised as I am that I am being asked this question, I am even more surprised to find that I know the answer! Unfortunately, the dress was indeed "old lady looking" as Rachel had so eloquently put it.
I broke the news as softly as I could, remembering all too well what it felt like to be told I had picked out something that didn't make the cut. And as we continued shopping, my mind wandered back through the previous days and weeks and months, only to remember time after time Rachel or Mary asked my opinion of a piece of clothing, or asked me to do their hair, or asked to wear my jewelry (or sometimes just wore it and skipped the pesky asking).
After Rachel and I got home, we'd barely gotten through the door before tearing our purchases out of their respective bags to show the rest of the family. Mom and Mary "ooh"ed and "aah"ed, while Josh and Dad looked on with glazed expressions. A few moments later, I was sitting with Mary on the couch, when she looked up at me and asked, "Jo, will you pick out a pretty outfit for me to wear to church tomorrow?"
There it was again! Not can you pick an outfit, but will you pick an outfit! It was then that I realized...I was it. I was the fashion authority. My word was law. Like it or not, somehow, somehow, I had gotten good at this. I had become the fashion guru for the Trexel household. How did this happen?!
Nikki has only been gone not even a year. Before she left, she was the one we went to with our fashion questions. She was the one to settle fashion disputes, the one to have the last word about anything pertaining to clothing or anything you could wear. Not that she enforced it, she just knew the most about clothes, that's all. Somehow when Nikki left, that baton must have been passed to me. Until further notice, I will be the acting fashion guru.
Heaven help us.
"I Will Glory In My Redeemer" --Sovereign Grace Music
