The Most Unique Closet You’ll Ever Step Into

It had been a long day of walking the streets of Philadelphia and my friends and I wanted to be indoors away from the heat wave. So, we stumbled into a museum dedicated to American Jewish heritage and figured it was the most convenient location to cool down. As we made our way to the third floor, we saw a steady stream of people moving towards the back of the floor. No one wanted to go back outside in the heat. Instead we followed everyone else and entered a room where we only saw an orange wall.

It was strange; there were shoes, frames, books, random articles of clothing, purses, pictures, and on and on hanging on the walls. Yet, we couldn’t piece together who she was. Who was Sara Berman? An actress? A musician? A historical figure? People were looking at each object with fascination as if they were in on a secret that only we were left out of. We begin to read the comments next to each object, but they were just quirky statements like “she cut oranges on this table” or “she cleaned her first apartment with this broom”.

At this point, I understood that this “closet” was showing a peak into this strange woman’s life but who exactly was she? She seemed as ordinary as any of us as all the artifacts in the room didn’t seem something entirely unique or different as what the average person would have in their closet.

But, as I made my way through each room showcasing a different part of her life – growing up as a child, meeting the love of her life, or leaving her husband to pursue a career in fashion – I realized the true beauty of it. The closet’s purpose was to show how an ordinary woman, Sara Berman, really lived out every corner of her life. She was just like you and me experiencing the lows and highs of life but fully embraced it. At the end, I ran into this wall with a single Popsicle.