Today I bagged up over 30 dresses for Goodwill. I used to wear dresses nearly every day. These days I rarely wear one. It was a slow transition, partly practical (working in a cold museum where I need to handle human remains and crawl around on the floor for instance), and partly unconscious. I've resisted getting rid of these dresses even though I haven't worn most of them in at least 3 or 4 years. I realized today as I was trying them on why it's been so hard to let them go - most of these dresses are from my first couple of years as a graduate student - which is, hands down, the happiest time of my life. Donning each dress brought back a slew of happy memories and feelings. Getting rid of the dresses is admitting that my time as a grad student is ending and that those happy heady days are gone. I might have shed a tear or two. OK quite a few.

On a less sad note, it was also interesting to note how much my style has changed - most of those dresses are quite ladylike, a little bit retro, a little bit bombshell - and are nearly all floral. These days I lean much more towards solids, to classic pieces, and I am decidedly anti-bombshell (for me). Interesting how one evolves when not paying attention.