Spirit Award

Last weekend, we went to DC to celebrate a marriage. Our friends Jack and Dawn got married in Mexico, then had 3 great parties in DC (so much for the 'simplicity' of eloping). The second party was a sit-down dinner with wine pairings; dress code: "island formal." As you might expect, this note on the invitation caused much stir among the guests as we all tried to decide what to pack. I found a very sexy pair of high-heeled strappy sandals that matched a purple (?) silk dress in my closet. I made a necklace to add more color variety to the outfit and I was ready to go! Until...

Glen got up to give a great toast. It made me laugh. I inhaled. Suddenly my bodice felt very loose. My zipper had given out in the middle of my back. I leaned toward Curt and very quietly asked him to try to unzip past the gap and then rezip my dress. He tried and then asked if I could wait for Glen to finish his toast. We waited. Glen finished and we raised our glasses. Curt went back to working on my dress. Seth noticed from across the table and thought, "if he were working on a car, I'd tell him to stop before he cracked the (insert appropriate car term here)," just as Curt lurched forward and then whispered in my ear, "oh no! I think I broke it."

I turned to Carolyn on my left and said, "I need a girl!" I held my napkin over the gaping zipper and fled the room, Carolyn, Anne and Kiki in tow. I sidled along the wall of the hotel lobby while Carolyn got a sewing kit from the front desk. I bee-lined for the accessible stall in the women's restroom, took off the dress and discovered that without serious deconstruction, there'd be no getting the teeth back into the zipper pull. I tossed the dress over the partition to my ladies-in-waiting for confirmation of the dire situation and heard Carolyn say, "there's only one TINY safety pin in this kit! What good is that?"

I was leaning against the wall of the stall, feeling a bit like a hooker in my undergarments and high-heels when I heard an anonymous voice from 2 stalls over say, "If it would help, I have a second dress in my bag in the coat check..."

"you have a second dress; why?"

"I wasn't sure what I should wear for "island formal.""

Anne: "Well, this is a size 6."

"That's what I have. It'll take a few minutes to get the ticket from my husband, but I'll be back..."

Next thing I knew, a beautiful black and white print dress (also Ann Taylor, similar cut to mine) came flying over the partition. I slipped it on and walked out to meet Miriam, my hero!



Our table nominated Miriam for the evening's "spirit award" for best interpretation of "island formal." She won a souvenir 3-pack of tequila. It couldn't have gone to a better woman!

So here's a little spirit to go with the tequila: