Getting Personal

After checking out the price tags on clothes, Fiorella realized she'd be walking around naked if the US cut off trade with China.
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Fio shares a damning trait with her mother--good intentions.  Just like her, Fio often walks into situations that she should have sat out.
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Fio needs new house shoes--and just when she has the old ones trained.
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Fio is always singing in her head, even if her throat is dry.
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Fio is the keeper of secrets--secrets other people have told her, and secrets of her own.

Striving for Organization

Fiorella is going crazy(er) with her lists.  There's her list of the cell numbers of RWA chapter members, the list of parties she's invited to, the list of people she wants to meet up with, the list of clothes she will take with her, the list of her meds, the list of workshops she hopes to attend, the list of things she needs to do before she leaves, the list she plans to make for husband to do while she's gone.

There's no punch line to this entry.  It's just another list.

Reunion Nerves

Fiorella needs to pick up a nice outfit for her upcoming high school reunion--something that says she's chic, semi-mature, and successful; something an up-and-coming author would wear; something that will make people want to buy her book when it comes out. Maybe a signboard would do.

Fio isn't sure why she's going to the reunion anyway.  Sure, it's nice to talk with old high school buddies, but our lives have all taken different paths, and the conversations will tend to be short.  And we have to be careful not to tread on each other's political toes. And Husband, who is not gregarious, won't know a soul there.

But there's a double mission going on here.  We're also going to stop at the cemetery and lay flowers on Fio's parents' graves.  And that's worth the whole trip.

Ol' Weirdo Fiorella

Fiorella personifies everything.  She even feels pangs of guilt about tossing rocks back into the driveway that just aren't quite pretty enough to add to her collection. She regards old, too-large clothes as long-time friends and cannot bring herself to winnow them from her wardrobe.  She apologizes to table legs for bumping into them.  She eats every kernel of popcorn because so it won't die unappreciated. 

Maybe she hung around her friends from India too long.  Or maybe its just ol' weird Fio.

Costumery

Clothes make the woman, and Fiorella has always  tried to dress to the occasion--not going as far as a former student who wore actual costumes to every class meeting, but dressing to whatever role she saw herself playing.  Her clothes also influence how she feels.  Her gray jersey tee with the glitter across the top makes her feel slinky, and her quilted Nepalese dress jacket makes her feel like she should be commanding servants hither and thither.   

Right now she's crazy about the slippers she bought herself at Target just before Christmas.  Sure, they're warm and comfortable around the house, but they're also cute: shiny velvet-textured fuchsia bodies trimmed in a sort of aqua ribbon ending in a bow around the top.  Fiorella feels like a regency belle whenever she wears them.