My Grandmother Saved Three Dresses for My Daughter

And she made it into one habit I am trying very hard to break.

Saving things for someday.

The cream dress has already been stained.

Strawberry, I think.

The yellow dress I wore has a tiny tear near the waist because Lily wore it for family photographs this spring and caught it on a branch.

For about five seconds, I was devastated.

Then I heard Grandma:

Clothes are meant to wrinkle.

Children are meant to stain things.

So I repaired it.

Badly.

But well enough.

The sewing box lives in my house now.

Lily is too young to understand any of this yet.

One day she will.

I’ll show her the photograph of her great-great-grandmother at 101, sitting under an apple tree with a birthday girl on her lap.

I’ll show her the letter.

I’ll tell her about the six years we tried to have her.

Maybe not all at once.

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