Operation Brassiere

Listen to this reflection by playing the video below or continue down the page to read the full text version.

This Reflection is co-authored by myself and Amy’s sister, Mary Pratt. I would encourage anyone who feels they have a story they want to share, to please contact me. I enjoyed working on this particular story. You can see in many of the pictures in the vlog, the love Amy and Mary have for each other.

Amy had a mischievous streak, especially when it came to her sister Mary. This probably stems from their sharing a bedroom for most of their young lives. Mary’s 40^th birthday was a golden opportunity for Amy to prank Mary that she couldn’t pass up.

Months before Mary’s birthday, Amy began scheming. She clandestinely obtained the addresses of all Mary’s friends from her extensive address book. From the names of fellow teachers, neighbors, friends from church, and their large book club, Amy sent a request for everyone to send her a spare brassiere.  Her plan was to assemble as many as possible and string them up across Mary’s front yard on the night of her birthday.

As the date approached, the bras began arriving via the U.S. Postal Service. We were inundated with packages. People were not content to send just one. They would often send multiple ranging from old worn ones to colorful new risqué styles. By the time Mary’s birthday arrived, Amy had assembled approximately 75 for the cause.

She enlisted Mary’s husband Jerry’s help to take her to Lake Geneva for a spa day and birthday dinner. This allowed Amy and her team of miscreants the opportunity to string the bras together from one end of her property to the other. They even managed to cover Jerry’s vintage International Harvester tractor in the front yard. The sign read, “Happy 40^th Birthday from a few of your supporters”.

The plan worked to perfection. Amy was waiting in Mary’s front yard along with her mom, Judy, and Mary’s sisters-in-law, Judy, Jacque and Jean. Amy’s handy work was on glorious display highlighted by several high wattage spotlights; to be sure to draw the attention of anyone in the neighborhood.

When Mary arrived home, she was blindsided by the shenanigans and deemed it an epic prank. Mary immediately began plotting her revenge. She boxed the brassieres for future payback and even went so far as to add to the collection with several trips to Goodwill.

Amy did not like surprises. Mary also knew that Amy would get suspicious of any plotted revenge the closer Amy’s 40^th birthday got. So, she planned a sneak attack in early August, months before Amy’s December birthday. Her book club had been discussing assembling at one of their member’s farmhouse to celebrate the completion of a labyrinth they had built on their property. Mary scheduled a fake date for this celebration but enlisted their fellow book club members into this red herring.

Instead, Mary directed everyone to assemble at a neighbor’s house several blocks away. The entire posse of scheming women proceeded to put the donated brassieres on the outside of their clothing.  They then paraded through the neighborhood with the 100-bra collection attached to a banner reading: “Amy is 39 and Holding”. The spectacle of all her friends, family, and neighbors including Claire and her young friends marching up to her house in bras, caught Amy completely off-guard and she couldn’t stop laughing. Amy’s parents, Frank and Judy, couldn’t allow the event to go undocumented, so Frank recorded the entire parade and Amy’s reaction.

A Party broke out as they all gathered on our deck for cocktails and snacks for the remainder of the evening to celebrate Amy’s 40^th birthday a few months early.

Amy doesn’t need much of an excuse to dance. You can imagine the rest.

Operation Brassiere was a complete surprise and provided Mary successful retribution for Amy’s initial prank more than three years prior.

As an aside, a gentleman from Lowe’s was scheduled to measure for new patio doors that night. When he observed the celebration he declared, “I’ve got to move into this neighborhood!”