My Favorite Little Black Dress

I have always had a little black dress; more than one, but rarely more than one at a time. My favorite one was borrowed by a cousin. Someone I did not know well. I had offered her other dresses, but she grabbed the one I really did not want to loan to her. Every fiber of my being said “NO! Do not loan this one!” It was my all-time favorite little black dress. It had rhinestones embedded in it, and it looked fabulous on me. She seemed sincere in telling me she would bring it back. And she was a first cousin. I have never forgotten that she never brought it back. I called her and asked for it several times. She called me six months later and told me she had brought it back. “I gave it to your kids,” she said. I knew it was a lie. Thanks to her deceit, I now listen to that voice that says “NO!” and I believe it. This happened forty years ago, but I have never forgotten it. A lesson learned in pain.