9/11/12

In 300 words write about an old wedding dress.


My mother was one of those women who never kept anything for over a year. She was constantly refurnishing the parlor, swapping her wardrobe with the newest fashion, and exchanging expensive jewelry. She liked everything new, and up to date. The newest fad, she had to have. Whenever something new and better came out, she had to have it. I knew it drew my father crazy. They would argue about how she spent another $1000 on a new carpet, when the old one was just fine. But it was how my mother was. And it was what she had. Her job was to keep the house up, and up-to-date. It was how she spent her days, taking care of my little sister maggie, and buying new things online. Thats how she didn’t most of her purchasing online. It even drew me crazy. She kept nothing, and if she did keep something, it wasn’t much more than over a year, until she would return it, or exchange it for something “better”. Even gifts, christmas, birthday, she would return those too. There was only one thing she kept. One thing she cherished. It was hidden in the back of her closet. Stored in a cream clothed bag. It was a wedding dress. Her grandmothers wedding dress, my great-grandma Jean. It was a simple thing. An off white lace gown. I had only seen it once or twice. But i remember it was made of silk, smooth, cool to touch. It was long, had a lace train, that would follow as you wore it. It was cinched at the waist, and then fell on the hips. The neck was tight, and ruffled with floral lace. The arms long, and twisted. It didn’t look like much, a clump of lace. It smelt of old perfume and musk. Yet it was the only possession my mother cherished. The only apparel she kept, yet never wore.  It was something special, something precious to her. It was given to her from her mother, and from her grandmother. I had always expected that she would then give it to me, someday. I don’t know what I would do with it. I had never been attracted to it. Never how my mother is. I would probably store it, never would it be brought out. It would collect dust. After all it was just an old dress.