Every year as Ruth and I made the move from Michigan to Florida, or Florida to Michigan, I thought she overpacked. We had two places to live, a set of golf clubs at each location, more than enough furniture for both, household stuff, linens, pots, pans, dishes, silverware, etc. and enough clothes to fill multiple closets.
There were years when I went back to Michigan before Ruth. She’d ask me to check her Michigan closet to look for specific items before she headed north. More often than not, I took pictures of her clothes and sent them to her so she could see for herself. I thought she hauled too much back and forth.
As we were preparing to head north last year, I suggested she take pictures of our Florida closet. I figured the pictures would help with the return trip in the fall. About a week before her accident, she did indeed start examining the spring pictures in preparation for the drive south. There were a total of eight photos similar to these. She found them helpful.
Once she knew what she had, she could plan accordingly. In recent years, if she didn’t have it, she bought it. That worked well for her. Her biggest challenge was finding tops with sleeves that were long enough. Thankfully, long sleeved shirts were not a priority in Florida.
After joining Tullymore Golf Club she needed more golf shirts with collars. She didn’t like them but conformed to the rules. She had a “when in Rome” attitude about the dress code.
After her accident last September, I took a personal vow to move forward slowly. Making big decisions too fast might prove to be ill advised. Following that mantra, I didn’t do anything in Michigan those first few weeks she was gone. I took the same approach when I arrived in Florida. I did give the kids a few coveted items. None were expensive. All had sentimental value.
About a month ago I decided it was time to go through Ruth’s clothes. I didn’t know how long it would take and I needed to examine each piece carefully. She had a habit of hiding things and later forgetting where she hid them. She once misfiled $400.00. She looked high and low and then one day, quite by accident, she found four $100.00 bills stuffed in a bra she seldom wore.
I went through her slacks and jeans first. She had a total of twenty-seven pair. Surprisingly I learned that women’s pants have an illogical number of pockets. Her jeans tended to have five, including the watch pocket. There didn’t seem to be a pattern to the rest. Some had two pockets in back, some two pockets in the front, some had zero pockets, and a few had two in the front and two in the back. I examined each one. When I finished with her pants, I found a grand total of six dollars and eighty-six cents. Most of it was in quarters, leading me to believe she wore those pants when we played Euchre with our Florida friends. We had to pay a quarter each time we got Euchred.
If you knew Ruth, you knew she didn’t carry a purse. They were too easy to leave behind and she did so on more than one occasion. She kept her driver’s license, health insurance card, a single credit card, the local ID for The Villages or Tullymore and a limited amount of cash in a small wallet in her rear pocket. You could identify her go to pants because the pocket was worn through like this.
She accused me a wearing threadbare shorts and slacks, but eventually she told me I looked like an eccentric rich guy who didn’t care what others thought. I think that helped justify the holes in her pockets.
I took a several days break when I finished with her pants. I went through her socks and underwear piece by piece. Most of them were tossed aside as I didn’t think others would be interested in her old undergarments. I examined her shirts, sweaters, and sweatshirts and found nothing unusual. I carefully folded each item, put them in like stacks, and then one of eight large plastic bags. The bags sat in our bedroom for almost two weeks.
I Googled the closest Salvation Army as that was her charity of choice. For several years after she retired, Ruth volunteered at the Army’s Adrain, Michigan location. One year she helped organize a fashion show for them. Friends and former students modeled clothes from the Salvation Army Store. It was a wonderful way to showcase the high-quality clothing that was available to willing customers. If the local Florida store should host such a show, the attending ladies will have several nice things to model.
During my examination of Ruth’s closet, I found six tops and one pair of slacks with the tags still on. I set those aside. I also saved several shirts and sweatshirts I think the kids will want. There’re three Michigan State shirts, one from her hometown of Plainwell, a couple from Sutton’s fifteen-month cross country tour, a few souvenir shirts she purchased when we vacationed with the kids, and the Tebo’s Mom sweatshirt she wore when BZ played volleyball. There are twenty-one items still hanging.
That leaves just one hundred and eighty-three empty hangers.