TODAY IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS

My friend, Ruthie, bought her 90 year old mother a beautiful cashmere sweater. 

When she went to visit her one bitterly cold day, she found her mother wearing an old sweater with holes in the elbows and most of the buttons missing.

“Where is your new sweater?” she demanded. 

“Oh,” she said, “I am saving that one for good.”

“MOM, THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS!”

Many of us feel that anything new we buy must be “seasoned’ for a while in the closet.  Yes, saved for good.

 Some of us carry saving things to the outer limit of extremes.  A woman I know goes to Loehmann’s, an upscale discount store, every day.  When she cannot not make it for some reason, she calls in sick.  But she always gets the manager on the phone to ask, “What came in today?

She has a large finished basement, almost sixty feet long, with pipe racks.  The entire length of the basement is filled with clothes she bought in Loehmann’s.  They still have the tags on them.  My jaw dropped when she first showed me her collection.  She was dressed at the time in an old pair of sweats that had some paint on them.

OK – we’re not all that bad. But, many of us who work at home or telecommute are sitting reading this in our sweats – or worse – our pajamas?  We are not cleaning the garage or scrubbing the kitchen floor.  Nothing messy.  Are we afraid that the keyboard on our computer is going to ruin our clothes?

We are all too old to wear out our clothes.  And at the end, most will be just given away to Good Will or the Salvation Army. No one will want them.

Why don’t we just take a shower and put something attractive on for ourselves?  Yes, just for us.  Not company.

Since I am one of the worst offenders, having been known to write an article in my nightgown – I just put on a good, comfortable pair of slacks and one of my best cashmere sweaters.  It’s cold today.  And a little makeup.  I must say, I look nice. 

That gave me permission to write this article which is really about nothing.

Nothing except making us feel like we are still in the business game while working at home – even if the only person who sees us is the UPS guy and the mail carrier. 

We see us.  And when we pass by a mirror, we can say, “”Hmmm.  Not bad. Still a nice looking professional person.”  Because that is what we are.

Because today is as good as it gets.