Wedding Dress

After our wedding 44 years ago my mother hung my wedding dress on a hanger and folded it into an E.J. Korvette shopping bag.  We tossed it into the trunk of our 1966 Pontiac Tempest which cousin Harvey had thoughtfully decorated with whipped cream and a "Just Married" sign.  And there it remained in the Korvette bag for 44 years until this morning when I fearfully opened the bag to find what I had expected: the dress was beyond preservation.

Unbeknownst to me, Mom had also tossed in the prayer book which I had decorated myself and carried down the aisle with a few white flowers on top of it.  Oh how carefully I had tied each white bow on three white streamers!  How lovingly I covered the book - which Mom had also carried down the aisle at her own wedding - with a layer of satin and an overlay of lace, and sewed a dainty ruffle around the edges.  I had wondered for years what happened to the book!  Thankfully, it is in excellent condition.

So there is Joy as well as sadness in my heart this morning. Finding that treasure made parting with the unsalvageable dress much, much easier.  I will not lose my precious prayer book again!

:-)