Story by Pamela R. Blaine (Author)
I remember so well how we all were sitting around the dining room table that evening. We were resting a few minutes and talking about the arrangements for the sale. It seemed like Mom should still be there with us. That she should come walking into the room with that familiar, cheerful airy whistling sound that wasn’t quite a whistle and yet there was a tune. Mom always whistled her own unique whistle whenever she was preoccupied with what she was doing.
We comforted ourselves in the knowledge that Mom had lived a long life of more than 84 years. One of the things that she loved was to travel and she was very proud that she had been in 49 of the 50 state in the U.S.A. She had only recently made her biggest trip to Alaska on a tour with her friend, Margaret. I think she would have visited all 50 states except she had not yet overcome her fear of water and of flying so that made Hawaii a little difficult to visit. She had outlived two husbands, and many close relatives and friends, which calls for a great inner strength which came from her Christian faith of many years. Most of all we remembered how she had been a wonderful mother to my brother, Jerry, and I.
When you lose your last parent, there is something akin to the feeling of being orphaned. Even though I didn’t live close to Mom, I had the habit of picking up the phone when I wanted to and giving her a call. I would find myself many times later thinking of a question, heading toward the phone, and thinking, “I’ll have to ask Mom about that”. Then reality strikes and then the pain of realizing you can no longer make that phone call.
I guess I was sitting there at the dining room table feeling a bit desolate that evening. Everyone was talking about which things went into the sale and which things we were keeping in the family, when suddenly my eyes focused on an old battered opened suitcase in the corner. I jumped up as I said , “Where did that come from?”. Everyone just looked at me, not quite understanding what was going on in my head as there were all kinds of things laying around that we had been going through, so what was the big deal about an old suitcase. I went over and grabbed up the material that I saw laying there, it was a dress, a very nice dress. It was a dark navy blue with tiny white polka dots and the material was of excellent quality, even after all those years. I felt my whole body tremble and I must have been covered with goose bumps because this was something special. You see, I remembered. I was only four or five years old but I remembered…Mama said, “Pamy, this is my wedding dress.” “This is the dress I wore when I married your Daddy.”
I’ve wondered so many times since, where did that dress come from and how did it get there in the dining room that night. I only remember seeing it that one time when Mom was cleaning a closet. No one remembered putting it there or seeing it there before and we had been going through everything together. However it got there, I do believe it was there for a reason. It brought those memories back and somehow comforted me.
I brought the dress home and had it cleaned. Just recently, my daughter, Jeanna, had her engagement picture taken wearing her Grandmother’s wedding dress! I wonder if her Grandma is looking down and whistling a wedding tune.
To know more about the Author: Pamy’s Place and Pamy’s Pen
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