A Special Gift

I received a very special gift this Christmas. To tell the story, I must go back to 1938.

My parents, Albert and Lillian, were married in December of 1938. My mother had the most beautiful wedding gown for that time. (Please take a look at the wedding photo below!) To a young girl, it was the dress for a princess…satin, with a long train. My mother looked beautiful and my father was very handsome, “dapper,” the way men looked in 1938. Her flowers were big, white, long-stemmed Calla Lilies. Just beautiful!

My sister Linda says that she always wanted to wear my mother’s wedding dress when she married. It was one of her childhood dreams. What young girl would not want to look like a fairytale princess? Well, when she asked Lillian, my mother, for the dress, Mom said didn’t remember where it was. Years ago, she said, her sister-in-law had it altered. It was saved somewhere but she didn’t remember where.

In 2004 my mother died after a short illness, ten years after my father. She was 88 years old. That story is for another time.

My siblings and I, together, cleaned out my mother’s apartment. We laughed and cried and went through all of what she had left, which was not much. We shared what we could and agreed that material things could not replace our mother or our love for her.

We each took a few items. As we looked through the closet, we found the large wedding photo, all dusty with a few cracks and broken edges, but basically in good shape. The colors had not faded. I took the photo and had it reframed. I hung it in a guest room which I renamed, “The Wedding Room.”

Way back in the closet, something was tied in an old yellowed pillowcase. It too was dusty and to my brothers, even looked “scary.” Well, it was the wedding dress! Linda took the dress and we laughed and couldn’t imagine why.

Well, two years have passed. As I opened my Christmas present from Linda, I saw what she had done. It was this satin pillow! Made from my mother’s dress!

Linda took the dress, complete with headpiece, to a seamstress who created the most beautiful pillow. The tiny buttons decorate the center and the flowers and ruffle accent the ends!

Thank you Linda! This is the best gift ever! It will rest on the bed under the photo of Mom and Dad!

Linda also had other items made from the fabric: little angels…for the females in the family. Little angels to protect them and keep Lillian in their hearts!

We could not have asked for a more thoughtful gift!