Since childhood I have loved dressing up. The excitement of wearing adult clothes, looking like a lady, or parading in a fancy dress costume in our little Christmas plays brought me endless joy and happiness. Best of all was trying on some make-up. Always a favourite of mine! At home I used to sneak into a cupboard in the bathroom and get hold of mammy’s face powder. I was lavish with the powder puff and ended up with some of it all over my face, a goodly supply in my hair making me look grey-haired, and usually with a fine dash on my clothes.

My heroic mother saw all, said nothing, and inwardly must have wondered if she would have any powder left after the escapades of her little, budding makeup artist,  daughter! Next door with my fashionable God-mother- Aunty Sophie – I had a great time trying on her hats, using  hatpins, wearing all sorts of coloured scarves and beautiful jewellery especially brooches for every outfit. Later at three different times in my life I was forced to wear a uniform but have managed to emerge unscathed, still loving fashion, jewellery, perfume, and an opportunity to dress up and for now earrings are my Number One item of choice!

In Tanzania about twenty years ago I heard a different story about dressing. I taught in a missionary seminary for eleven years and some of my students went to France after their philosophy studies for pastoral experience. Boniface went to Lyons and I met him again shortly before I left Tanzania; he had a lot to say about his cross-cultural learning. I recall stories  about  pastoral ministry, & his home visits to both elderly and refugee families; he also taught African drumming to a parish youth group. He went on to say that everything he did could be compared quite easily to life back in Musoma, Tanzania except for one thing. One big difference. Just as I was agog and about to hear what that one thing was another friend joined and we spent the next 5 minutes or more meeting, greeting, and catching up before Boniface could continue. “It is the dog that is most strange in France.”  I was quite surprised having lived in France so I must have shown shock on my face. “The dog wears a  dress” he said. “Ah” he continued: ..“when I tell my family about the dog wearing a dress they think I have gone mad – yes really mad!”

I had a recent  experience of a sort of dressing up that was definitely a first. This was something I had never seen before – can I tell you about it? I was in a very elegant restaurant in Dublin last week and from a riveting menu ordered fish – king prawns. After some time, a waiter arrived with a little plate with a large portion of white bread and a small strange looking object ….at first I thought it was some kind of unique gift, then I thought it might be butter in specially folded  butter paper. Well, it was neither, it needed much closer inspection. It  was a slice of lemon beautifully and most artistically wrapped up in the finest of muslin cloth. It looked really delicate and almost too nice to touch never mind squeeze for its bitter lemon juice! I couldn’t resist how it looked so took a photo and here it is. This was certainly a culinary dressing and one that was well dressed up!

I occasionally  wonder about the dress code in Heaven and what dressing up there might look like! This is the one and only time I am ready to be on the “Routine, Non-urgent Waiting List.”

 Yes I will wait a while more to know this!