the dress.

From the time I realized I was never going to wear it, I've been going back and forth trying to figure out what best to do with the dress. Do I tear it up? Burn it? Sell it on ebay? Make another outfit out of all that excess material?

I was very careful to consider all possible options. I even thought about lending it to a younger friend who didn’t have a date, much less a dress, decided on just quite yet. Then there were those times when one (mostly tearing it up or burning it) seemed more likely than the rest. But almost the entire time I spent trying to convince myself it was just a silly old dress. Still, I knew in my heart that it was anything but. It was, in fact, a dress whose very threads had sewn together the very fabric of my hopes and dreams.

As hard as it was, I finally came to a decision I felt comfortable with. And today I did it. I gave my dress away. To Goodwill. I thought it was quite appropriate because in spite of the circumstances surrounding my letting the dress go, I do sincerely part with it in goodwill.

I know that there is no guarantee that someone else will buy it or use it. Regardless, the dress was accompanied not just by matching sandals, but also a heartfelt prayer that should someone use it, that she would be blessed abundantly by it. That whoever she is would live out, in one way or another, the joy and fulfillment that first went in to picking the dress out, next in putting it together, and finally in seeing and wearing the finished product in all its beauty. That is, after all, what it was intended for.

One day, I, too, will wear the actual dress for me – perhaps of similar material, but different style, maybe even of a similar design, but no beadwork. Possibly with pearls, and probably even more expensive. I can’t really say right now. We’ll all just have to wait and see.