Season of Fur

With eager dedication to her quest, Ashley pronounced one Saturday a commitment to seeking a fur coat for 75 cents at the thrift. With an added ounce of fortitude in the wee hours of the morning, she returned with nothing less than one mink coat, which she gracefully whisked off the Salvation Army rack for a grand total of... 75 cents. And because it was August, we displayed this model of Ash's obvious spiritual gifting on the hallway coat rack to welcome all Lily guests. 

Sometimes Ashley loses Odds Games and has to wear her fur to church...

It was no less than one week later when Ashley decided to put her fortuitous thrifting to work once again, as she escaped the Lily in light of searching for yet another 75 cent fur. Convinced the previous fur find was an act of coincidental grace in the life of Ash, I used all motivational strategies to dissuade her from the impending disappointment looming over an unfulfilled mission. It was to her benefit that she ignored such nonsense advice, because two hours later Ashley returned with yet another fur… for 75 cents. 

As noted last weekend:
There's a reason people [and animals] wear these things.
Turns out, they are really really really warm.

Our coat rack now greets Lily newcomers with a frivolous display of two real furs, while the secret of thriftiness is hushed with an intended air of fanciness. 

Memories of our very first Lily Christmas linger in mind: taped-together burlap stockings adorning artwork that was garbage-picked from our alley, which hung beside the free craigs-listed couch… Christmas 2011 with Betsy set the tone for the true culture of Lily Life. Three years after that first Christmas in the Lily, I am reminded via the medium Fur of what it means to live in our home. Amidst the interchange of both seasonal and permanent guests, parties and conversations and life lived with roommates new and old, these two furs represent the common ground that unites all who have experienced the in's & out's of Lily Life. In the absence of in-unit laundry or a garbage disposal, the lack of a dishwasher or more than one bathroom, it is clear that our apartment is far from fancy… yet this is not something we simply put up with, rather is the defining factor of what we love most about our home.

our furs found friends.

So although there has been talk of converting the furs into decorative pillows or perhaps winter blankets; we've toyed with the idea of selling the furs for flights to Paris or Rome, and laugh about using them to hang as interactive art on a wall… I know deep down these furs will forever remain exactly what they are: a commitment to Lily Life past & present, making memories as roommates in Chicago in our 20's, and perhaps an attempt to feel a hint of fanciness amidst the reality of our graduate-student/career-searching/penny-pinching lives. 

Fur makes for a Halloween costume as- Margot from the Royal Tenenbaums
… the shoulder pads have since been removed.

Someday, we might live in apartments with granite kitchen counters and evenly-aligned door frames; we might have doorknobs that open doors when turned and walls without cracks or holes, but for now I am content knowing this is exactly who we are... 75 cent fur coats and all.