out of the bag

I went through a dead woman’s clothes today. As I reached into the black trash bag, pulling out carefully folded clothes that were then unceremoniously dumped into the crinkly plastic blackness, I thought about who she must have been. I have never met the woman, though evidently we wear the same size. I saw from her clothes that she likes nice things- Talbots, Chicos, but that she was not afraid to purchase clothes from WalMart. She liked casual, unstructured living judging from the amount of shorts and cotton shirts. I imagine her to be a practical woman, in touch with her self as she was not wearing these clothes to impress anyone, though I imagine they suited her.

She died from cancer. Quickly. Within 6 months of diagnosis her body was made ready for the cremator. While I am not personally a fan of such a way to leave my body after my soul has returned home, it does bring the full circle notion of from dust we have come and to dust we shall return.

I think I can learn a little from the contents of this black trash bag.. I will be true to myself- some things I wouldn’t be caught dead in, despite the fact that I might first be found naked, as I do not have the funds to purchase new clothes. But I will keep what I can to wear carefully with my own accessories to make it my own style- and for free- using what I have. I will be practical and return things that are not to my taste to the trash bag’s dark depths for someone else to wear. I wonder whether they too will ponder the whereabouts of the previous owner as I have. Whether she is in her glory, or in her hell? Will the next person to plumb the insides of this bag be grateful or ashamed of its “preowned” status? Or will it simply be a matter of course to them- their pride not a stumbling block as it sometimes can be for me; of little consequence that their style is not reflected in the stitches on their body?

Carefully I place the bag, only half full now, in the back of my car, ready for the next stage of its journey for another soul to explore.