The Met Gala and the Gray Sweater of Binghamton

Last updated on: May 8, 2018 at 7:38 am by Anne Kennedy

The Met Gala and the Gray Sweater of Binghamton 2018-05-08T07:38:01-04:00 Anne Kennedy

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The birds outside the window are driving the cat, and maybe even me, crazy. They are calling loudly, one unto the other, in fits and frenzies. The tail of the cat doth twitch, and I wonder what they all have to be so excited about. Perhaps it might be spring after all.

So, of course, I spent some sunny hours indoors yesterday, pouring over the Met Gala fashions. Didn’t know it was even that time of year but saw so many pictures of Tom Brady in his pirate outfit that I was able to make my way there. The best, of course, is this person dressed up in a bishop’s hat, but all the things that all the people were wearing are worth a languid scroll.

Now that the weather doesn’t seem to be in the gripping embrace of ice and snow, I suppose it is finally time to turn my attention to the Great Wretched Clothes Change Over of 2018. If you once perched on the edge of a runway, sometime back in November or something, making notes of what you planned to order from Givenchy for the spring, you might be eagerly checking the mail every day to see if your perfectly apportioned ball gown with no back and a bishop’s hat has finally come. This is just like that. The breathless excitement, the drama, the I-wonder-what-I-will-find-in-this-dusty-overfilled-bin-with-a-lid-that-doesn’t-quite-fit fluttering of the heart.

You pull the bins down, one by one, audibly whispering to Kon Mari, who is spiritually standing over your shoulder, that it may be one way in Japan, but here in the Northeast the number and variation of clothes for different seasons means they cannot reside peaceably together in one drawer. Thick bunchy corduroys and sweaters cannot abide comfortably alongside flimsy shorts and thin tee shirts with little ponies and stupid words scrawled across the front. It is not a matter of just putting a wooly sweater over a cute be-lambed smocked dress, adding a pair of socks and clutching a royal stuffed bunny. We are not the Princess Charlotte. No, the whole countenance has to change in all its essentials.

Which means I will have to beat my own way into the back of my bespoke closet and admit to myself that I have lived here long enough that I no longer can rally an emotional and spiritual accommodation for summer. Though I love it, I no longer have clothes for it, even when I technically do. So completely has my soul come to inhabit the gray sweater of Binghamton,* that I reach for its drab comfort though the sun be shining.

So we will struggle on for a few short months, longing for and loving the sun, but being anxious about its heat and light, unhappily wearing clothes that show a speck of skin, reaching evermore for the coat, the socks, the sweater, worried that snow will suddenly plunge from the sky, relieved when it finally does, returning always to the touchstone, the gray overbearing sky.

See how good I am at not getting my hopes up?

*Worn even by Marissa Tomei in that Binghamton movie with Hugh Grant that no one could ever remember the name of–did you know, they both came here? As in actually came and shot some scenes in Binghamton. Her sweater wasn’t apparently gray but it was in an Aristotelian sense, like, the fountain source of the sweater was gray, even though it’s outward properties, or accidents, were not.

Notes from Home

Binghamton

The Weather

Previous Post

May 7, 2018

Podcast on the Paige Patterson Links

Next Post

May 9, 2018 The Met Gala and the Attorney General

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Children in Conversation culture watch Daily Devotions Demotivations with Anne faith alone for the grandparents GAFCON In conversation with children In the News Kitchen Notes Lambeth Learning Notes Life Going On Men are Human Notes from Home Pictures Reading the Bible Saturday Links Sermons Signs of the Apocalypse The Bad Word Association The Prayer of Jonah Travel Notes Uncategorized Witless Wednesdays Work and the Christian

Select a Month June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who killed his brother: Cain or Abel?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Seth Abel Cain Adam

Books by This Author Books by Anne Kennedy

See All Titles »