Changes

I missed posting for our visit on January 7 - so here I am.  It's not that I'm getting complacent. (I won't mention that I've been waiting for some much needed images from that day (-: .) There have just been lots of changes a foot.

Our morning knitting circle at the HSC.

My hat on one of the residents here. Nice feeling to see your work on someone's head.

Ann

Ann

Cattryn

Gandolfa

Greta

Lisa #1

Lisa #2

Lisa #3

Lisa #4

Lisa #5

Meghan

This visit was our first for the new year. We had a couple of new visitors on the 7th - Deborah and Gandolfa. So glad to see new faces along with the familiar - Cattryn, Greta and Meghan. Our time with the ladies on the 7th was quiet, but always fruitful. Tillie was tired. And with good reason.

Because Tillie has really been a stand out, generous folks who have the means, want to find ways for women like Tillie to lift themselves up - and out. So, Tillie has been invited to apply for a class run by an organization called Emerge AZ. This is a group of "power women" considering public service, and their organization is contemplating taking Tillie under their wing. So - Tillie was invited to a cocktail party before interviewing for acceptance.

As we left the WOW session, Tillie turns to me and says, "The attire is supposed to be 'business casual'. What does that mean?" I answered her, with not much thought as I would any friend contemplating such an invitation. I went on with the rest of the visit that day, but as I thought more clearly about this later in the day, it occurred to me that Tillie probably had absolutely nothing to wear for this event, nor the means to be properly dressed. So I called her and sheepishly asked if I could come over on Saturday and take a look at what she had and help her put an outfit together. My daughter Meghan and I showed up the next day with dressing-your-body-shape-correctly-print-outs off the internet. (I've watched enough episodes of What Not to Wear to know there is a science to this!)

Well we ended up going shopping. After a couple of stops, I began to worry. Tillie is, as she says - "healthy", and the shops we tried just did not have anything suitable for her body type. Turns out, she knew about a wonderful resale clothing shop on 7th Street just south of Indian School. They had a whole section just for plus-sized women. It was fun applying the clothing rules for Tillie and handing her in lots of outfits to try. Those rules really work, and almost everything she tried looked fantastic! We ended up getting her several outfits - all for under $70.00. We traveled on to Last Chance and found a couple pairs of shoes to finish off the ensembles.

It was fun, and we heard Tillie showed up looking amazing and was readily accepted into the Emerge AZ program. Her life is in deep change, a transformation few of us will ever go through to the extent that Tillie is posed to do. I never knew I would find such strength in such a place as the HSC. Now, I do - that's my change.