By Patti Parish-Kaminski, Publisher
It’s a hard “no” on purging my Dolly sweatshirt. Never dis Dolly!
Just as I’m in my purge groove – thoroughly convincing myself I can and will get rid of things – it happens. I find my Dolly sweatshirt transported carefully and lovingly directly from Dollywood. How could I possibly toss Dolly? It’s downright immoral and quite possibly illegal – right?!? I. Cannot. And then in an instant, my purge groove is gone – disappearing in a flash, much like my youth.
I’m trying – really hard – to let things go. It’s definitely a mood. I have to spend a significant amount of time talking myself into the decluttering, the elimination of things I don’t use or haven’t seen in a couple of years. This getting rid of is a forever thing. That’s a bit terminal, and therein lies the rub. I get going fully committed knowing I will never wear that bag or those 6” stilettos again, but then I run across a treasure, and it’s all for naught.
The challenge lies in the fact that I get excited when I find a treasure, real excited. And being the caring and generous person I am, I tend to share my enthusiasm. All progress stops as I lovingly express sentiments over my discovery. This partaking in special memories and my excitement is vitally important and extremely considerate as Mr. Kaminski’s memory isn’t as good as mine. I believe it’s super sweet of me to share the details of these important finds. Mr. Kaminski does not share my unbridled enthusiasm.
“Oh, my goodness!” I exclaimed joyfully, literally doing the puppy wiggle. “It’s my Dolly sweatshirt!”
I pulled it out to show Mr. Kaminski. After all, sharing is caring.
“I have never seen you wear that,” was his less than enthusiastic reply.
“It’s Dolly. Can you see it? Let me bring it closer,” was my retort.
“Nope, still nothing.”
“Well, I love her, and I’m keeping her.”
My comments were met with an eye roll. “It’s a shirt, not a her,” was Mr. Kaminski’s input.
“It’s Dolly! She is the single most influential person in the entire United States, perhaps the world. Not only is she an amazing talent and businesswoman, but she has a heart of gold and gives significantly through her Imagination Library. She gave the first $1 million to find a cure for COVID. She makes sure all of her employees at Dollywood can go to college if they want to. She’s beautiful and funny. She is everything!” was my thorough explanation.
“It’s still a shirt. You’ll never wear it,” he replied. Sometimes I wonder about him.
I immediately removed my shirt and put my Dolly sweatshirt on. It’s actually a “Peace, Love and Dolly” sweatshirt. Can you even imagine getting rid of such a treasure? Clearly such an action would be criminal.
It was 80 degrees that day. I didn’t care. I was donning Dolly, and I was happy. I just turned the AC down really low and went on about my business treasure hunting. Don’t come between me and Dolly. It won’t turn out well. See y’all next week – on the porch!
Patti Parish-Kaminski
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