PLAYING DRESS UP

I love these old photos of our Girl Scout days.

As I've undoubtedly told you before, our Girl Scout troop was formed in September of 1945, when all of us were in the 5th grade. We stayed together under the aegis of the Girl Scout troop until we graduated from high school in 1953. Oh sure, some kids left, and we added some, but basically there was a core of us who stayed together until -- well, I guess you'd have to say we are still together. We occasionally still have get-togethers and now, contact by e-mail.

This picture above shows me not pregnant so I can date it pre-1955; I'd guess it was taken in 1954. (I was pregnant from mid-1955 to 1961!) As to the occasion, it has to have been at one of the regular "reunions" we had after the actual Scout troop was no longer in existence. What I find interesting is that the picture looks like the occasion was Easter or some other festivity, but in reality in those days we all dressed up to go places. These were the kinds of clothes we wore when we went to church, or when we went to a social club meeting, and most often to PTA meetings. And we of course thought our old scout troop reunions were times for us to get all dressed up.

Except for my daughter Kerry's wedding in 2000 along with a couple of her bridal showers, as well as my 50th high school reunion in 2003, I haven't been in a dress since I retired in 2000. I say that not to be bragging but just to let you know that times have changed, in case you hadn't noticed. Back in the '50s and '60s we didn't live in our jeans or cut-offs or any kind of casual wear. Oh, we wore them around the house but when we went out we wore dresses or skirts and blouses. And you can see we were all in high heels. I must admit to being horrified recently when I saw what people were wearing to church. Even the adults! (But not the older people, us)

In the photo you will see my friend Dorothy in a maternity dress. That is the kind we all wore. A two piece outfit. We didn't think it was seemly to have everyone see the baby bump, so we camouflaged it as much as possible. The skirts had a scooped out front so as the baby grew in size we didn't have to buy different clothing. Usually store-bought garments had some kind of a stretchy fabric over that scooped out section, but if we made our clothes we simply didn't bother with that. We all wore full-length slips under our clothing so the slip provided some coverage of the baby bump. And most importantly we didn't call it a "baby bump" either.

This photo is the way the mid-fifties looked. You can see in the background how the ubiquitous "tracts" looked shortly after they were built. You can see that the houses have a sameness about them, and there are no trees or bushes to be seen. We grew up in Long Beach, and for the most part, when we got to a marrying age we mostly bought homes on the outskirts of Long Beach, where all the new tracts were all going up.

I love these old scout photographs. I have a bunch of them. Most of the people in this photo are still alive. When I see this picture I am reminded that Dokey, the girl on the extreme left side, is now dead, but this picture shows her just as I remember her in my mind's eye. And Barbara, the pretty girl in the front row right lost her life to a stroke some years ago. Most of all, this picture reminds me of living in a wonderful era, having had a time of innocence in our lives that is gone. It reminds me that friendships can be forever, and that even though we sometimes separate in our interests, our life styles and our whereabouts, we will always be the same Girl Scout Troop 28 that we were in this picture.