Does My Recent Love of Purple Mean I'm Getting Old?



Exhibit One (purple plaid shorts).



So I went to DOTS, because they were advertising $10 dresses, and who could pass up an amazing deal like that, right? Sunday afternoon. The DOTS on 118th St. in Edmonton is gargantuan. Dizzying. 

I go to the outer edges, begin perusing the dresses, of which very few are $10, as a matter of fact. Mostly $29.00. (Although a fellow shopper told me they were really $20 until the end of the day ... no one knew for sure.) 

Now let me tell you about these dresses. The bulk of them were the most godawful examples of "design" I've ever seen. Puckers in spots one certainly doesn't wish to accentuate ... weird belts and crazy necklines ... tucks and darts and buttons and zippers and snaps all in decidely ludicrous places. Fabrics from out of this world. Hemlines that dipsy doodled. It was 
Frankensteinian, Jeckyll and Hydian, Lucy in the Sky with diamonds and whatnots. As I filed through the racks I kept thinking about the types of odd theme parties one could host, just so they could wear these wretched pieces!

And then what did I do? Scooped up 20 items and ducked into a changeroom. Halfway through the lot I realized another sad fact: sizing at DOTS is out of whack. I am a Large at DOTS (in real life I consider myself a Medium). Everything pulled or didn't even get zipped up. I'm surprised the mirror didn't shatter in fright.

Of the 20 items, 5 were contenders ... if I could find the same items in a larger size. Could I? Nope.  But that didn't stop me from scooping up another dozen items and heading back to the change room. I mean, come on ... I'd already invested over an hour in the warehouse-like store ... I was not going to leave empty-handed.

And thus I didn't. I bought the shorts pictured above. Plaid shorts. Predominantly purple. Dress shorts ... something I can wear to work. But did I have anything to match these shorts (which I was not sure I even wanted)? No way. Back to combing through the racks. I was parched. I had to pee. It was now going on 2 hours of my time in DOTS. (Did I mention I'm not a shopper?)

So what did I find to match the shorts? Not a thing.

Onward to a place where I know I'll always find something I like ... something that suits, and fits, and the price is right: Value Village. I bought 4 T-shirts and someone's perfectly good go-go type white shoes. I was happy.

Exhibit 2 (purple file folder)

No one made me take the purple file folder (in which to insert my radio advertising scripts after they've been produced at the station.) I could have chosen slate gray, or mellow blue, or yellow like a slightly-withered lemon. But no. I chose purple.

This is the thing: more and more, I am choosing purple.

Exhibit 3 (purple floral duvet cover)

I think Greg doesn't like it, but he's too polite to say. I slipped it over our duvet while he wasn't looking. Well, it's spring. There's been all-together too little floral in this house, methinks.

And when the irises that are popping up all over the garden bloom, they'll look smashing on the bedside table beside this romantic duvet.