Old t-shirts with satin nightgowns

In my poetry class, I’ve been reading a book about poetry. The book opens with a paragraph on epiphanies and the important part they play in poetry.

If poetry really is someone coming to an understanding, and stating that understanding in a beautiful condensed way, then my husband was a poet last night.

It all started when I had a day filled with frustration and business. Of course, to make things worse, I was going on only a few hours of sleep. I threw a final coat of gesso on the canvas that was due the next morning in my painting class, and started focusing on my one true goal in life: to get in bed early. I went to the drawer filled with all of the night clothes I got from my lingerie party a few months before the wedding and started digging for something to wear. I decided to actually wear one of the pretty things I had gotten instead of my usual old t-shirts. Finally, I settled on a long, never-before-worn satin night gown in a beautiful cream color.

So I was running around getting everything ready when I felt something knock against my leg: I had run into the wet canvas getting a nice, big white smudge on my satin gown. Nearly in tears after my long day being made longer, BJ offered to wash it immediately and work on removing the stain.

While BJ worked on the stain, I returned to the bedroom and put on a baggy, old t-shirt. BJ came in a few minutes later and said he didn’t think he could get all the stain out, but that it would be okay because the gown would fit me better now. And here is where he became a poet. He said, “It’s like you, the embodiment of elegance…with a smudge.”

So my husband knows me pretty well. And I think that night gown has just become my new favorite. It will now feel as good as a faded old t-shirt.