Daisy and her red boots

When my daughter was born in 1971, we named her Day--a name that she inhabits like sunshine.  As a child, she loved making costumes out of whatever she could find: old scarves, paint, fabric, and sequins.  Never once have I heard her use the word, "bored."  She painted her tennis shoes, and she once made elf shoes out of old green felt for a play she wrote for a back yard show.

As she grew older, she would sit for hours making things and designer fashions. I've always felt a twinge of regret that when she was a teenager, I told her that we "couldn't afford" a particular brand of jeans she wanted and we bought the generic ones instead.  She never complained, but I felt that $36 for a pair of jeans (1982 or so)  was out of the question.

She grew up to be the president of her college sorority.  She was chosen by the university to represent Texas at the Women As Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C.  While there, she met Tom Terrific--and later married him.  They live just outside Washington in Falls Church, and their Cape Cod brick house is a jewel box of color and art made by Day.

On the night of the President's speech last week, Tom printed out Bingo games for Jackson and Marcus to encourage them to follow along.

Day and Tom are amazing parents!

And Daisy (her nickname) is still making things out of fabric--though she didn't choose fashion design as her career.  A high school English teacher, she's a Pied Piper for her students.

On weekends and days off, she likes to go to Unique, the thrift shop, and find treasures.  She can now afford any jeans she wants, but she still prefers poking around for things she can "make things out of" rather than buying ready-made clothes.

This week she sent me texts and pictures of her most recent finds.

"$15 Thrift Store Find," she wrote.

"Look what I found for $5 at Unique."

I've spent as much as three hours at a time with Daisy shopping the racks at Unique.  I've watched her look at skirts and jackets for details that she can translate into something entirely new.  I love the ways she puts unlikely scarves and chenille and lace together.

She gets so much pleasure designing and wearing her Daisy creations and her students think she's way cool.

Here she is modeling "gifted and thrifted" yesterday.  "The  scarf and red top are from you, Mom.  Vanderbilt jacket and jeans from thrift shop."

I'd like to send my precious daughter a box full of Gloria Vanderbilt jeans, brand new, to make up for not having the money to buy that one pair when she was thirteen!  On the other hand, I wonder: would she have been as creative or uniquely Day as she is now--if she'd had everything she wanted back then?