Cleaning Closets

I felt like I was on the show What Not to Wear on Sunday. I met up with my sister-in-law Jessica (check out her blog to see some brilliant photography!), and my friend Ashley for some Target shopping. Fancy? Heck yes. My favorite part of the trip was watching Ashley. With Jessica's gentle nudges, Ash veered away from safer options and tried some more daring outfits that totally matched her sparkly personality.

Then came phase two. At Ash's request, we headed back to her house for a good-old-fashioned closet cleaning. Jessica took her stance in the closet. I took my stance on the bed. (Please note that I, martyr that I am, assumed the stance that involved lounging and lots of pillows.) Section by section, we worked through Ash's stuffed closet. When Jessica found a faded t-shirt circa 1998, Ash balked.

"But YOU gave that to me, Jess," Ash said.

"When?" Jessica said.

The answer was sometime in middle school.

As Jess explored Ash's closet deeper, she found tons of off-beat, cute clothing we had never seen Ash wear. Some still had price tags. Because of all the clutter, Ash had simply forgotten the more Ashleylike clothes were even there.

That got me thinking about revising. It's a similar process. Discarding the old so what remains shines all the brighter. Chiseling away, piece by piece, to expose a story's glittering underbelly. Of course, there's the occasional simile (or comfy sweater) we keep because, well, we NEED it. And isn't it still pretty? And doesn't it make us all sentimental just admiring it?

By the end, Ash had became quite the pro closet cleaner. And the clothes remaining definitely represented my vibrant friend. Even Stacy and Clinton (hosts of What Not to Wear) would have agreed.