The Barn Dance

by Arlene V., mother

Our college was not co-ed at that time, so many of the girls dated fellas from the big school down the block. It was unusual only in that it was a first blind date for both of us. I trusted my friend, but much later I learned that Joe did not want to go to the barn dance!

My outfit was a skirt and blouse in the best country tradition – denim and a peasant-type blouse. The skirt was put together with a piece of denim material featuring an elastic waistband and decorations. A fringe was made for the hem after long hours of pulling threads through heavy denim. Then, red narrow ribbon was weaved through the material right above the fringe around the entire skirt. With a dozen pinned on bows above that, it was finished. The rest was a matter of adding a blouse and covering the waist with a red belt …

That was forty-seven years ago – a blind date for a barn dance. Whatever attracted us that night has endured and grown. My view of changing the world was different then, but one look at a family photograph tells me that goal has been fulfilled in ways never dreamed of forty-seven years ago. The Master plan was much better than mine.