The Summer of my 19th Year. . .

. . .after my freshman year at the University of Oklahoma, I went to work with two of my former colleagues from my very first job, at Balliet's.

It was a very exclusive, women's boutique that had been started by the Balliet's family in the historic downtown Skirvin Hotel. I started as a stockgirl, who cleaned out the dressing rooms and put the stock back on their racks in the back room. Very little merchandise was on view for customers to go through. Their saleswoman would find out what they were looking for, and bring it to their large dressing rooms. It was quite an experience, and I learned a lot. I continued working the next year, driving three days a week from Norman to Oklahoma City. I felt like I was in two different worlds, which I was. Campus life and Couture were polar opposites. I eventually became an assistant to the Designer Sportswear Buyer.

My friends from Balliet's still get together a couple of times a year for dinner. It was one of the best experiences and most fun times I've ever had.

This is a picture of the front of the store today, which I think is very festive and welcoming. It's changed a lot from those days. Not quite as exclusive. trying to reach a broader customer base. But still very much in the minority of locally owned dress boutiques across the country, a dying breed. It's in the same center as my favorite bookstore, Full Circle Book Store, which is also a dying breed in the land of bookstore chains. The once exclusive mall is more like a ghost town, with lots of vacancies, which make me sad.

But it never fails when I'm there, as I was today, that a flood of fun-filled times and learning experiences come to my mind and makes me smile.[/b]