Lost And Found

My wife is great about spending money on clothes. She always dresses sharp and chic, but does it without breaking the bank. She will buy things in anticipation of future use simply because she can buy it on sale for a greatly reduced price.

This works out really great, as in my position as publisher we get invited to a great number of social and charitable events. The problem with that is it means pushing the envelope on my wife’s wardrobe. She doesn’t want to wear the same outfit to events where we see the same social acquaintances within the same week or even month.

Luckily, she has her reserves from the smart shopping she does. The other week during APEC, we were invited to attend a dinner held in honor of Philippine President Aquino. If you’ve ever been to a formal event for the Filipino community, you know that the ladies wear elaborate custommade gowns. This put my wife in a quandary on what to wear. I was wearing a black suit, which has become my uniform, so I didn’t have a care in the world.

My wife was rather panicked on finding something to wear. Frantic, she came out of our bedroom and questioned me, “Ron, what did you do with that brand new dress I had hanging behind our bedroom door? You’re the only one who moves my things from there.”

I looked up from the TV, and for the life of me, could not remember seeing or moving that dress. Of course, my wife was right: I’m the only one who will either put these things away or toss them out. I started to perspire.

She was getting impatient and paced the floor in front of me. Unable to remember, I asked her, “When was it behind the door?” She replied, “About a year ago.” After my temporary blindness from blood shooting from my eyes, I calmly replied, “Check your closet, where I move everything hung behind the door.” Sure enough, it was there.

That’s when she decided to try it on to see if it still fit. I immediately got up and said I was stepping out. She asked where I was going. My reply: “Molokai.”