Goodbye Liz

Probably more than any of my male friends, I feel like I once had a special connection to Liz Claiborne, who died here in New York on Tuesday.

When I was dating the lovely Valerie about 10 years ago, I was pinching pennies to save up for a wedding I was in on Hilton Head Island. She and I had just started dating, and about the same time she told me about the stock guy who quit the Liz Claiborne store where she worked, I was telling her about this upcoming wedding.

Apparently the dude asked her out and once she said no, he quit. So I picked up a few shifts in the back room, and added "Women's Clothing Store Stock Chump" to my lengthy list of awful jobs I've had over the years. The extra cash came in handy and the hours were flexible. I occasionally miss those days, just as thousands will miss Claiborne, who died after a long battle with cancer.