The Dress

I went clothes shopping today. Specifically, we drove up into Houston to the big fancy shopping area, where I've had luck before in finding special outfits.

On June 15, I'll be receiving a special award at work, a NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal. There's a big ceremony where all of us who are receiving award will be paraded and photographed (there’s a bunch of us). Our families are invited to attend (usually access to the center is restricted to employees only).

Anyway, I had to find something to wear. I have a very nice black suit, but my self-appointed fashion advisors tell me it is too "lawyer-like" and somber to wear to this event. I guess they are right - I wore it to my Dad's funeral. To complicate matters, the heat and humidity have arrived full-force and I refuse to wear something heavy.

To my delight, I found that I have gone down at least one dress size as I'm losing weight, and I found a slightly fitted, lightweight dress. It’s not my usual style, but it is so comfortable – and it was ON SALE! I grabbed it and got the heck out of the store before it disappeared.

This award thing came as a complete shock to me. I was sitting in my office, conducting a meeting, and my boss stuck his head in, tossed me a letter and said, “Good work.” The letter was from the head of the center, saying that I had been selected as one of the medal recipients and that the ceremony would be on June 15th.

I still don’t know exactly why I was nominated or what my alleged exceptional achievement is!

Of course, I feel quite honored to be selected and I certainly won’t boycott the ceremony or anything – LOL!