By: Stephanie Reynolds
If there is one word that describes the last month of my life, it is “costumes” (though “cake” would also be a top contender). There are my April Historic Tour costumes, including the two new amazing and incredibly period accurate dresses (if the term “period accurate” includes polyester machine lace and an Amazon Prime account) I bought. I eventually realized that one of them was the same dress one of our guides wears. Truly she looks better in hers than I do in mine—we’ll just have to make sure we don’t wear them on the same day. If we do, we will just blame it on limited choices of bolt fabric at the mercantile.
There’s the costume I enthusiastically volunteered to create in a moment of unreasonable confidence, then fretted about for 2 months, and finally started today. It’s due in 5 days. I don’t even have all the materials yet. I thrive under pressure, I tell ya.
Then there are the three formal dresses I ordered online for the Chamber Gala. One went straight to the “cosplay” pile. It was only $18 so that’s fine. Another is a rich teal velvet with bright sparklies on the hips, and the final one is a burgundy, sashed, spangly, netted formal with a mini train. I have no shoes for either, and the event is tomorrow. If I wear the super long one with the mini trail, I could probably just wear my sneakers.
Then there’s the Recovery Girl costume I designed in my head on Saturday during an insomnia-fueled burst of creativity at 3 a.m., then ran to Walmart to get supplies at 6 a.m., started putting it together at 8 a.m., and then realized by 8:12 I could never get it done in time for the Convention happening that day.
And lastly there’s the Star Trek costume I wore instead, reminiscent of Troi’s 60’s Trek throwback era (Live long, fellow nerds, and prosper).
At one point during all these costume changes, I briefly thought about how people act differently in various situations; they sometimes feel weird about it, but I realized that might not always be terrible, actually. The way I act when I dress up in my hoop skirt and crinoline is significantly different than the way I act with my 50-lb. ruck on the Richard Martin Trail. A giant hoop skirt billowing below a cinched waist instantly summons a curtsy at the gentlemanly kiss of my kid-gloved hand. If I tried to curtsy with my ruck on, I’d probably pull a hammy. And if anyone tries kissing my hand on the trail, it better be a deer.
The way I act in my fabulous new teal-velvet-with-white-sparklies “formal costume” at the Gala will be completely different than I will in my Recovery Girl costume. At the Gala I will be (hopefully) regal and (hopefully) elegant and (hopefully) not accidentally stain my underarms blue and have bobby pins shoot out of my hair across the dinner table, which happened at another formal dinner (Yes, I’m serious. No, don’t ask.)
And I definitely won’t be able to act like Recovery Girl at any of these other places. She’s a character from an anime called My Hero Academia and heals people with a big loud smooch and hands out gummi bears…I’m almost certain that big loud kissy noises would absolutely not be appropriate at the Gala and would be dodgy on the trail, though I do hand out gummi bears ad libitum.
But it’s all still me—sometimes elegant, sometimes rugged, sometimes genteel, sometimes smoochy, sometimes nerdy (okay, okay, always nerdy). Each time I dress up in a costume, I get to play with a new facet of my human experience. And I love it! It’s not hiding me, it’s revealing what’s been inside me this whole time.
So, what does this have to do with Tourism you might ask? Just this: Tourism and community events give you a million ways to explore different facets of you. Today you might want to dress up as “rugged you” and head to the trails. Or maybe you want to dress up as “ancestor you” and be a character at the Cemetery Stroll (we’re looking for more folk to re-enact, hint, hint). Maybe you want to dress up as “sporty you” and try pickleball. Maybe you want to dress up as “runner you” sign up for our Red White & ZOOM Rocket Pop 5K. Maybe you want to dress up as “elegant” you and don a top hat and cane or a spangly gown. Scholar you? Artist you? Food taster you? Golfer you? Writer you? Musician you? Biker you? Introvert you? Extrovert you?–We have a venue for every “you”!
Follow our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/exploreathensal) to see the events in town. Come see me at the Tourism building and we’ll make a great plan. Find us (and tag us!) on Insta. Let’s get you exploring all the different facets of YOU.
Mwahh!
By: Stephanie Reynolds, Athens-Limestone Tourism Association
