Goldy Knows: Cashmere All Up In Here

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Cashmere All Up In Here

It was forbidden...

I wasn't allowed in the attic as a kid. There was that dropdown latched door. The one with a string on it. It was too high for me to even reach. There was no light up there and it was cold.

For years, my mother, a product of the Great Depression would work at a department store in St. Paul MN called "Grants". She saved everything to help out at home. 7 kids in a one-bedroom house, humble beginnings, and a tight fit.
She loved nice things but that was hard to afford.

She managed to save up every few months or so to put a new cashmere sweater on layaway. That's what you did back then. :-)

Over the years she collected quite a few pastel cashmere sweaters. It looked like an Easter egg collection up in beautiful white boxes with pink ribbon holding them together. They were in the attic and one day I got up there, ladder in tow, balancing to pull that string with a candle and matches stuffed in my pants. I wanted those sweaters! Lol

I was forbidden. But I remember sneaking one in my backpack and pulling it out at school for everyone to 'ooh and ah" and touch. I knew someday I'd have my own.

I found them after she died and we were going through her things. My eyes filled with tears as I ran my hands over that soft yarn. There were holes eaten by moths now...a sad metaphor for how life comes full circle. I can only imagine what it was like back in the 50's... I wish I could have seen my mother then.

I hear when you're in heaven... that you are at your "best year ever". Whole, healed and shining like a new dime.
I bet my mother has on a Cashmere sweater if not too hot in heaven?

I found this cool outfit on my website www.amazon.com/shop/goldylocksrocks but I'll list it here with direct links in case you want your very own cashmere too. I think they are as beautiful as my mom must have been back then working at Grant's. Thanks for reading.