Fallout from Divorce

This photo was taken by a friend I worked with in the early 80s. It is one of my favorites.

I discovered early on in the divorce proceedings that I had no credit rating and it was a real shock. While I paid the bills and signed the checks, my spouse got the credit rating and I got zilch!

I decided to remedy the situation. I got an Armstrongs credit card. Armstrongs was a wonderful four-story deparment store where I loved to shop.

I didn't shop there much when I was married because I made 90% of my clothes. I decided after the divorce that I would no longer make my clothes - I would buy them!

It took just over a year for the divorce to become final. During that time I received a monthly check from my not-soon-enough-to-be-ex. I used those checks to buy myself a new wardrobe.

And a wonderful wardrobe it was!

There was a neat lady at Armstrongs who became my personal saleslady. She would call me when something "interesting" came into the store. Then I would go in and try on clothes. She would ask me to try on something that no one had tried on up to that time and she and the other ladies wanted to see how it looked. I would try the item on and very often someone would buy the same item because she saw me "modeling" it.

I loved Susan Hutton blouses, Kaspar suits, Levi BendOver slacks and jackets. There were other brands that I liked, too, but these were my very favorites. The jacket and blouse in the above photo came from Armstrongs.

Patti and I sometimes shopped together. Later, after Jessica was born, we took her in the stroller and we all three "shopped til we dropped!"

I did learn that, when buying clothes, it was either "yes" or "no" because a "maybe" was usually a mistake. I can think of one particular jacket that was a mistake and it had been a "maybe." So I really did learn that lesson - and the hard way!