Lice Meets Up with Favorite Yellow Dress

. . .for the most part, I laundered my lice infested clothing after it had met "the being secluded in a garbage bag for a certain amount of time." The clothes would then be returned to the stench in my closet as a result of being sprayed. I had a favorite Nancy Johnson Dress that was a pretty yellow with pink and purple flowers and green and blue swirls. Around the neck was white lace. I loved that dress and it had a great deal of sentimentality AND it was no small fortune. It was so worth it for how I felt in that dress. It fit like a glove and was very feminine. It flowed when I walked. Sadly, this dress had been exposed to the little critters. No way, no how was I going to try to launder my absolute favorite dress, and so I made a trip to the Dry Cleaners. I crossed my fingers that lice would not multiply on the public's dry cleaning :)

The days would be spent scrubbing smoke off the walls. It was evident, that my domestic skills for cleaning were also taking it's toll on my emotional state, especially since I was not seeing much progress. I finally broke down and called the Disaster Relief. It was another unnecessary expense that added to the already existing burden. . .but at least it would be done. I left the young woman to her duties of beautifying my smoke darkened walls. There were errands to be had and my dress at the dry cleaners. I pulled through the drive up window and gave the attendant my ticket. A few minutes later she came to the window with a white dress. I made the correction, "my dress is yellow. . .not white." The attendant replied, "This has your name attached to it. Are you sure this is not your dress?" "Yes I am sure. . ." This was my absolute favorite dress. I ought to know. As I studied the dress, the lace collar did look familiar and there just happen to be s a few light pattern swirls but this dress was white! Where was the yellow? I pulled it closer. The tag read Nancy Johnson, size 4 and the buttons were the same. It was my dress. I could not believe this on top of the previous mishaps. My dress was ruined. I felt ruined and the only compensation was $50.00 for my $200 dress. Wow.

Trying to be positive was more than difficult. I was receiving constant encouragement from my parents, but that just didn't seem to do. I needed a pick me up to my downtrodden spirits. I needed my own personal disaster relief and no one could do it better than a beauty salon but my wallet was losing weight fast with all the extra expenses. . . and so the story does not end here . . Darn the lice!

*I am still searching for a photograph of my precious yellow dress, but for now this sketch will have to suffice.