Every spring I visit friends in Louisville, Kentucky.

Last year it was for Passover.

This year, Easter.

About an hour out, somewhere between Lexington and Louisville, I called to give Art my estimated time of arrival.

“You’re making good time,” he said. “If you can get here by 7:15, we’ll take you for a special treaLaurie and met on the way to our folk dancing group.”

“Ok,” I said, “what’s up?”

“The woman whose great grandfather invented the seersucker suit is attending a special showing of their clothes at Rodes. It’s right next to where we dance.” En route to the event, I read a newspaper clipping and learned that the woman I was about to meet was the CEO of a New Orleans based company, Haspel.

I’m a Louisiana native and lived most of my adult life just a stone’s throw from the LSU campus. A loyal Tiger fan, I had planned to wear LSU team apparel all through my stay in Louisville, especially in light of our big bowl win over the Cardinals and their Heisman Trophy recipient.

I wore a purple, gold, and white plaid button-down to the event.

As we walked into the menswear section of Rodes, Art approached  one of their representatives and announced the arrival of a Cajun seersucker fan. While we were treated to cocktails, they brought Laurie Haspel Aronson over so I could meet her. She commented on my LSU attire and said she lives in Baton Rouge. We know several people in common. Finally, she said, “I know you from somewhere, I just can’t quite put my finger on it.”

“I was a pharmacist for Winn Dixie in Baton Rouge before moving to North Carolina.”

“That’s it!” she said with a bright smile. “You filled my prescriptions.”BookNSuit-1

A light bulb went off in my mind and we chatted more. She grabbed a seersucker blazer off the rack (with pink stripes) and we posed for several photos together. As a parting gift, she gave Art and me each a copy of a new book about her grandfather’s business and the famous material that is seersucker. Watch for my review of Milk and Sugar: the Complete Book of Seersucker by Bill Haltom in this space soon.
It was great to see Laurie again and I’m looking forward to adding to the seersucker in my wardrobe.