At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.
~Jean Houston
While making plans for our annual trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, to visit our grown children, I received a call from our daughter, Bambi, who lives there. She had just had a visit from our son, Adam. “I want to give you a heads-up,” she said. “Adam stopped by a while ago. He found an old, sky-blue, polyester suit at Goodwill and got this crazy idea. Adam thought it would be hilarious to wear it when he goes to pick you up at the airport. He was laughing pretty hard, but I think he said that the jacket is a tad too tight, and the pants are a bit too short. He’ll be the goofy-looking guy holding up a sign that says ‘OWENSBY’ so you won’t miss him when you deplane. He thinks it’s going to be a hoot.”
A plan suddenly began to form in my head. “I guess that means we should dress appropriately as well, so he won’t miss us either.”
After hanging up, I found my husband Wayne, told him about Adam’s outfit and suggested we turn the tables on him by wearing wacky outfits as well. Wayne loved the idea.
Usually, when we travel, it’s just Wayne and me. However, this time our middle son, Ryan, and his wife, Gillian, would be coming with us. We gave them a call, hoping they would want to join in the fun.
They were immediately on board. We discussed a variety of ideas for outrageous outfits, silly styles, and wacky wardrobes, and set a date for shopping.
Shopping day arrived. Armed with a list of thrift shops, we headed out. One store, in particular, had a humongous variety of clothing options. We found some splendid items to complement our new personas.
Wayne: “The Cheap Act.”
Aptly titled, Wayne’s gaudy outfit looked like he came straight from a swanky lounge. He found a mustard-yellow leisure suit. The pants were a tad too big, which we remedied by hiking them up to his chest and securing them into place with a large white belt. To complement the leisure theme, he found a yellow silk shirt missing several of the top buttons. The shirt simply screamed for cheap gold jewelry to hang down on his chest where the buttons were missing. They went great with the gold “John Hardy” platform-style shoes. The finishing touch was the way he fixed his hair with a nifty side part, complete with a comb-over. Perfect!
Ryan: “Jethro’s Doppelganger.”
Our son Ryan also discovered some fabulous duds. His outfit looked as if he had shopped in Jethro Bodine’s closet from The Beverly Hillbillies. Like Adam’s, his suit was also a tad too tight and a bit too short. No matter. The fact that the pants were short allowed ample opportunity for him to show off his cartoon-character stockings. A pair of cheap sunglasses finished off his getup nicely.
Gillian: “Nasty Barbie.”
Gillian hit the clothing jackpot. She found an outfit that suited her persona perfectly. Her sparkle-plenty costume jewelry glittered and glowed. She would have stood out in Las Vegas. From her foot-high hairdo to her four-inch-spike heels, she looked altogether different from our innocently sweet and charming daughter-in-law.
Senia: “Old Hippie.”
My outfit happened to fit my style nicely. Since I decided to become an old hippie, finding my clothes was easy and fun. I picked up a tie-dyed T-shirt, bell-bottom pants and, of course, extra-tall white platform shoes. My hairstyle was simple: I would simply not brush my hair that day. Beads added some authenticity, as did a pair of groovy-looking glasses. I loved my look; it was relaxed and comfortable. I secretly decided to keep those clothes and add them to my wardrobe to wear again.
So the big day finally arrived. Though we knew we’d be getting some strange looks and giggles, we were determined to go through with the plan — if for no other reason than to see the expression on Adam’s face when we stepped off that plane. This was before September 11, 2001, so there was no danger of being questioned by authorities.
I’m usually a bit of a Nervous Nellie when it comes to flying, but on this trip we were having so much fun that I didn’t worry at all. As expected, most of the folks on the plane gave us the curious once-over. A few averted their eyes, but some folks asked if we were part of a singing or acting group.
We explained what was going on. It didn’t take too long before word spread through the entire passenger list. It made for lively conversation during the trip as others shared their dress-up stories. It was a fun flight. Before we landed, most of the folks on the plane (including the flight attendants) were looking forward to watching the expression on the face of the young man dressed up in the sky-blue, polyester suit holding the sign as we got off the plane.
We finally landed. The moment had arrived for us to walk out that door. We stepped out and spotted Adam immediately. Then he spotted us. The expression on his face was priceless.
“Adam!” I shouted from the ramp. “I’m so happy to see you!” I gave him a big hug. Folks who had not been on our plane must have wondered greatly about the oddly dressed group hugging and laughing.
Adam’s a smart boy and had a pretty good idea about who let us in on his wardrobe plan. He wanted to get the last laugh, so he decided that the first order of business would be to run us by Bambi’s workplace so we could see her right away.
Imagine the look of surprise on her face when she responded to her receptionist’s call that her family was waiting for her in the lobby. She had thought Adam would be taking us directly home from the airport. Thankfully, she’s a good sport.
All too soon, it was time to go home. As I was repacking my suitcase, it occurred to me that I had not seen my “flying outfit” since we’d arrived. Where could the clothes have gone? After searching everywhere with no success, I decided to ask Bambi. I found her downstairs looking intently out the window.
“Hey, Bambi,” I said as nonchalantly as I could, “you don’t happen to know what happened to my flying clothes, do you?”
With a twinkle in her eye, Bambi said, “I know you pretty well, Mama, so…” She motioned me over.
I hurried to the window and watched with her as a garbage truck rumbled down the road. Sigh.
Okay, I think she really got the last laugh on that one.
~Senia J. Owensby
