This dress is due back in three weeks

Friday night was the most fabulous night of the year in Salt Lake City, the Equality Utah Allies Dinner. Because we are fans of equal rights and because Robert's firm specializes in LGBTQ issues, the Salt Lake Lawyers purchased an entire table for the event. 

Although the night really deserves its own blog post, I am going to start with what matters most: getting ready of course. 

I had a conference all day on Friday, but luckily my boothmate, Catherine -- Hi, Catherine! -- let me leave a little early to get ready for the festivities. Getting ready became twice as fun when my husband's law partner, Dani, asked if she could borrow a dress to wear to the occasion. Few things thrill me as much as loaning out clothes. My two favorites things in the world are clothes and libraries and the idea of a circulating collection of clothing has always appealed to me. From college to marriage, I actually had a sign-in/ sign-out sheet by my closet where my friends could checkout clothes that they liked. I run an innocent until proven guilty honor system where friends are free to borrow clothes until they have proven too irresponsible to be trusted with such privileges. By and large, it works. 

Since marriage, I've discouraged others from popping into my bedroom unannounced but still encourage the use and reuse of my closet. On Friday, when Dani sent me the text, I went into hyper librarian mode, pulled out 17 outfits for her to choose from, and separated them into black and non-black piles. 

Dani ended up selecting this amazing number that I wore back at lawyer prom in May.

Bellisima! 

I too got gussied up for the event. A few weeks ago my sister-in-law wanted to buy me a belated Christmas gift and sprung for this dress, which Robert said looked very Great Gatsby. 

Photo credit: Dani

Squinting while looking at the sun

The two non-lawyers

After getting ready at Dani's house and pre-gaming at Phil's, we headed out to the Allies dinner, which was held at the Salt Palace Convention Center downtown. I have been there before for genealogy conferences and other nerdy things we do in my profession, but when they put Equality Utah in charge, the overall prettiness of the venue increased exponentially.

Robert with Aaron Butler, friend and event sponsor. Need a mortgage? 

Young lawyers of Salt Lake + me and Joelle who just find ourselves at parties

Showing a little leg

Obligatory couple selfie. Look at us! We're dressed up!

Genetically gifted siblings

The night ended with a special treat as Laverne Cox from Orange is the New Black spoke movingly about her experiences as a transgender woman of color. As a huge fan of the show, I was excited to see one of its stars, but as she spoke, I completely forgot about her character Sophia and focused on Laverne. She was an amazing speaker with the rhetorical flourish of a Southern Baptist preacher, but when she spoke of the fear and bullying she had experienced her whole life, you felt like she was addressing you directly. She talked about things I had never thought about such as the inappropriateness of asking a transgender person whether they are pre- or post-op. Addressing this subject, she dropped her voice half a notch and in her Southern drawl intoned, "They call them private parts because they are" which drew a huge laugh from the crowd.

Laverne Cox

In sum, it was another fun and interesting night with my husband and his band of merry lawyers in Salt Lake. Dani, thank you, thank you, thank you, for allowing me to loan you clothes and get ready together. Christine, thank you for watching Aidan. And Equality Utah, thank you for a night that will not soon be forgotten.