Happy List Addendum: In the Pink

Yesterday's Happy List contained one rather serious omission I wish to correct here. Two weeks ago, my best friend Katy came to visit me from Oxford, and as always, within five minutes of her dropping her bags on the floor of my apartment, we said that magic word: "Presents?" I pulled out all the things I'd been saving to give to her, she opened up her bags to get stuff for me, and ten minutes after that we were surrounded by pencils and books and torn-out magazine articles and goofy food wrappers and all the other things one shares with a friend because one knows s/he will love them, however silly or ephemeral they may be. And then Katy said she had more one thing for me.

A brief digression here: I love cotton button-down shirts; they're lightweight, they're comfortable, they dress up or down, and they're classy-looking in every circumstance. And while I am not a label whore by any means, for many years I have wanted, longed for, indeed positively lusted after a shirt from Thomas Pink. According to the company website, the original Thomas Pink in the 1700s manufactured hunting coats that were so finely tailored and elegant that a person wearing one was said to be "in the pink," whence the expression derives. The company is now a division of LVMH, which means it's inherently (and deliberately) a little overpriced and snotty, but which also means the quality of the goods is very, very high. And Thomas Pink shirts are beautifully tailored, from soft cotton as smooth and glossy as silk, with a choice of cuffs and the ideal length at the waist and collar points that are always just so. I know this because I've often gone into Pink stores, paged through the racks, and sighed because I would never ever treat myself to such a luxury; and how could I expect to get such a shirt otherwise?

So when Katy pulled a Thomas Pink box out of her suitcase, I think I burst into tears. Partly it was from getting something I wanted after so many years of wanting it, but mostly it was from her paying attention as a best friend always does: listening to the things that were unsaid as well as said, and giving me exactly what I most wanted at the moment I most needed it. And the shirt is beautiful: red and yellow and purple and green stripes on a background of blue, with French button cuffs and generous tailoring -- an absolutely perfect fit.

So this Happy List entry is overtly that I have a Thomas Pink shirt at last. But really it's that I have such a wonderful friend in my life -- one of many wonderful friends in my life -- and for the attention and generosity and good memories of friends everywhere.