Clothing Swap

Last night I went to a clothing swap for the first time.  A friend of mine has been going for awhile and convinced me it was a good idea.  I was a mix of curiosity and nerves.  As comfortable as I am with new people, I am not comfortable in the clothing girly side of life.

I walked in with my basket of things and put them in the appropriate piles and on the appropriate floor.  At first I felt sheepish laying down my reject clothes.  What if they looked at me and thought, "pshaa, I wouldn't take your clothes... just look at her!"  But to my surprise when I returned to the pile to look, all my shirts were gone!  My rejects were someone else's new finds!  And the same thing happened when I went to the jeans pile, everything I brought was in someone else's arms.

They had the entire house separated into rooms of categories and sizes and 40-50 women were pawing through piles of clothes.  Random women beside you would strip down suddenly to try on clothes.  And I spent most of the night looking at the person beside me wondering if I was admiring her left overs! But I found that most of the women had this same feeling, as there was very little conversation.  There was the one of two people who talked loud enough for everyone to hear, but all the other women were just a quiet as I was (for those of you who know me you may find that shocking!) trying to make it through the evening relatively unnoticed. 

Our town, for not having a small town feeling, is a surprisingly small community.  I walked into woman's house I had never met and ran into women I knew from at least 5 other places: church, story time, school, or the park.  It was an incredibly bizarre experience, yet I came home energized!  It was a mix of the feeling you get from cleaning out your closet and finding a great deal.... because I mean.... I'd done both!  When I finally came back home I found myself walking into my room looking around spying things I'd bring next time, and wishing we'd have another tomorrow.  What a weird mix of excitement and discomfort.  They even had snacks and wine.  Funny.  But I must say, I'm definitely going back in the Spring!  Clothing swap here I come.