Mommy Blog

Charley-Glitter

in Giggles on January 17, 2022

The place? Las Vegas

The time? Somewhere close to midnight

The date? New Year’s Eve, 2014

The coat? Brand new

This is, hands down, my all-time favorite piece of clothing…a black coat. My husband bought it for me on that New Year’s trip to Vegas. I spotted it in the window of a vintage-type clothing boutique. Ten minutes later, I was wearing it.

This coat has an Audrey Hepburn feel to it. I felt like a movie star that night, a part of the Golden Era of Hollywood. The fact that we had to walk through partitioned off pass-throughs to get from one Downtown party to the next, only added fuel to my imagination.

NYE 2014, was a LONG time ago. But, I still have that coat.

In fact, I wore it to church yesterday. Here, in the suburbs of Houston, Texas, I don’t really have an opportunity to dress like a 1950s icon. It is also unlikely that when or if that chance arose, the weather would cooperate. It’s almost always too hot here, but yesterday was a little different.

The temperature was a very crisp thirty-four degrees when we left for church, so I pulled out my coat.

As Jeff and I were getting settled into our pew, he pulled a strand of dog hair off of the hem of my coat. Sounds gross—to be honest, it kinda was, but that strand of hair—along with a couple of others, belonged to my Charley-Girl.

My Golden Retriever.

Charley was the best dog I’ve ever had the privilege to know. She was always around to try and comfort me through some of my worst days, especially when my migraines were so bad that I couldn’t hardly move. She laid beside me on the bathroom floor to keep me warm when my pain was so terrible, the bathroom was the safest place for me. She went everywhere with me…from the beaches of Florida, to the mountains in Colorado, and then onto more beaches in California. She was my girl.

But, being a Golden Retriever, she dropped enough fur everyday, for me to knit several matching sweater and hat sets! Her fur seemed to permeate the house and all things inside.

We called it Charley Glitter.

Charley crossed the Rainbow Bridge last March. Here I sit, typing this out, and it has been almost a year since she left me, and I still get teary-eyed thinking about her. But, yesterday sitting in church, with my glittered coat, I smiled. It made me realize that the ones that leave us, are never really gone. They live on in our memories, and if you’ve ever had a Golden Retriever, they live on in your clothes, beds, couches, and more!

Do you have a memory that is hanging around? Does it make you smile, or does it bring a tear? Some of our most beloved memories bring both. And, that’s okay. Life is made up of many feelings and events. The good are bound to cross paths with the bad. But, for today, as we start off this week, let’s focus on the good ones.

For me, dealing with the Charley glitter was a necessary evil, but I wouldn’t change a thing! Besides, a little glitter in your day makes things sparkle! Have a great day!