To the older than sin peasant skirt, twice altered and infinitely-mended: I love you.  You are my Laura Ingalls Wilder skirt, always worn while making tortillas on cozy fall afternoons or during early mornings weeding the garden.  Lace fringed and speckled with brown and pink flowers like freckles of a farm fresh egg: you remind me that peace is always found by getting lost in a good book or a corner of my plot of land.  You are the Pioneer Woman in me that feeds my trailblazing soul, allergic to being fenced in, lover of horizon-to-horizon space, mountains and sky my ever present companions. 

To my mother's brown cashmere coat: I love you.  I suppose people would call you vintage now, with your A-line silhouette and the elegance that speaks of a night at the theater.  Worn only for special occasions, you bring me the grace and the poise of my mother, a valuable asset in this rough and tumble world.  You remind me that every outing is a special occasion, every event worthy of a stylish ensemble.  You are the Sophisticated Lady to which I aspire, the timeless icon of the self-assured womanhood.

To my polka dot dresses, all of them: I especially love you.  You bring a bounce to my step and remind me that it is always a good idea to flirt with life--because life always flirts back.  You lift heaviness from my heart and fill it with song.  You make me want to twirl and giggle and go off adventuring.  You bring out the Hedonist in me.

To all the scarves I've knitted: love, love, love.  You are stitched from the Nourisher in me. Life, you say, is a symphony for the senses--color, texture, memory, all woven into your warming embrace.  As are the scarves gifted to me--you are hugs from my loved ones, each stitch a token of the history and love between us. 

And to my leggings and tunics: come Saturday, I love you most of all because you make me feel like I am not wearing any clothes at all.  Yes, you reflect the Happy Nudist in me who gladly gives up my weekday costumes for comfort and stretch, just as I tuck away my vibrant weekday persona for the quiet creature in love with large mugs of tea and naps and homey tasks.

Yes.  That is the woman I will always be: the Hedonistic-Happy-Nudist-Sophisticated-Lady-Pioneer.