Project Advent II, Day 10: The Bridge of Lubbock

I just sat down to type and ended up falling asleep for an hour and a half.  Oops.  Going to keep this one a little bit shorter than usual.

The Bridge is a multi-pronged outreach center, located in a building that used to be an elementary school.  They offer hot meals, an after-school program, a children's health clinic, and a free clothes closet.  When I filled out a volunteer application their director, Ashley, contacted me almost immediately to tell me that she loved the idea of Project Advent, and would love if I came out to help with their clothes closet today.

In 1984-85, I was actually bussed to this school, back when it was Posey Elementary.  Pulling up to the building and walking in was a real flashback.  I found Ashley, and she showed me to the room where the clothes closet is.  There were only a few folks getting things that they needed, and other volunteers were taking care of that.  In the next room, though, was a huge mound of coats.  The staff needed these coats separated out into size and gender, so that's what I spent the next hour doing.

As I sorted coats, one thought stood out to me, and it was this: women, why do you settle for the crazy confusion that is sizing of women's clothes?  Sorting the men's coats was incredibly easy: S, M, L, XL.  Done.  Women's?  8, 10, 12, 14, but then sometimes one of them says Petite, but then sometimes one has a number that's smaller than the number on another coat but it's actually bigger than the other coat because there's also a letter next to the number.  Craziness.

Affirmation project: Laura Blevins, you have been my friend through thick and thin for over a decade now.  You are so selfless, and you see things about me before I see them myself.  You make me face hard truths in a loving way.  You're a rockstar of a mom.  Thanks for everything.  (Also, I do still plan to collect that shipment of cookies that I bought during your bake sale someday.)