by JoAnne Windsinger

Created on: July 28, 2011   Last Updated: September 22, 2011

“You mean that I am in California and my underwear is in New Jersey?  How can that happen?” Lou continued angrily, “I will only be in San Jose for two days.  It is mom’s 75th birthday and we are gathering for a family reunion.  Now I have nothing to wear.”

She thought about how she traveled in denim and sneakers for comfort.  It was winter in New York but she stuffed her coat into the luggage. That was when baggage traveled free with a paid ticket.  It was in the 80s where she was going.

Her dress and shoes for the party, jewelry, the birthday gift, it was all in New Jersey.   “My stuff went places I never went,” she thought sadly.  

She looked around for her brother who was taking her to his house. What would his society maven wife, Jacqueline, think now?  She was oh so posh. 

She laughed as she wore her party duds: jeans washed in the sink, borrowed sandals, and an oil slick polyester blouse. Everyone else shimmered with jewels. Each gift given outshone the last, until they opened the drugstore card with a ten-dollar bill added to it. 

When she arrived home, her husband forgot to pick her up at the airport.  She read a trashy novel while waiting for him to tear himself away from the woman he met while I attended the party of the year. 

She froze going home because her coat went traveling.  She always hated New York winters.  This one was the coldest yet and she giggled as she thought she was not talking about just the weather.

That night, the phone rang.  “We found your luggage.  It is in the San Jose airport.  You can pick it up during business hours.”  She was in New York and her underwear was in the west, soaking up the heat.  Maybe, she would just go back and get it.  Moreover, she thought, “I just might stay this time.”  

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