On Tuesday night, I went on a second date
dressed as
Wonder Woman.
I know...right?!
The back story: We tried to get together and then he was making cracks via email about how busy I am and then he asked if I was out saving the world, or something like that.
He made a joke about my invisible airplane. His last comment to me before we met was "Don't forget your cape!"
And like someone shoving me in the chest, I reacted. I thought "I'm gonna wear my Wonder Woman costume."
Wonder Woman
I bought the outfit in 2006 one month after Art was diagnosed with cancer during his first battle.
I wanted to be a queen that year until Langston, then age 9, pointed out the Wonder Woman costume and said "Mom, you should be this!" I laughed as I paid for it at the register.
Art almost fell over when I met him at the door after he was being escorted home from a chemo treatment.
My friends thought it was the best costume .... EVER.
And then I put it way.
And then, three years later Art died.
So on Tuesday, I'm sitting outside a wine bar, in my car, dressed as a blonde Wonder Woman. And I'm on the phone talking to a widow friend of mine.
"This is stupid." I say.
"No it's not Kim. It's who you are. You are Wonder Woman!"
I take it in.
I feel my superpower rising.
She is right.
I am Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman is back, I think.
Wonder Woman with the faults that do not make her weak but actually make her strong.
Wonder Woman is real.
Wonder Woman has been who I have been all this time, since the moment he was diagnosed to this moment, one year and 8 months after his death.
I realize Wonder Woman is back.
I wear it to meet this guy who is laughing so hard he can't talk for a moment.
I stand there laughing too because he enjoys the joke so much, because I had the balls to say "Fuck it" again and show up in a costume for a second date.
The next day I am laughing because he has written out the lyrics to the Wonder Woman theme song and sent them to me and... he asked me to accompany him to a Christmas party.
He likes Wonder Woman.
The costume will not go back in the Halloween box.
It will stay with me, in my closet so that
I can remember
that Art's death
has brought back
Wonder Woman.
It's nice to see her again.
