Our 14-year old daughter ‘Saja asks me at least twice a year if she can see my wedding dress, and my response is always, “Nah, it’s in one of the boxes in the garage; I don’t feel like digging it out.” I know…I’m such a party pooper.

Well, she and I were trying to organize the garage yesterday and she asked every so often, “Is that the box with your wedding dress?”

“Seriously?” I thought to myself, “We’re in the middle of a huge project, and she is asking about my wedding dress!” I desperately wanted to stay on-task since I finally felt motivated to move beyond the “thinking phase” of garage organization.

Maybe she didn’t believe I really kept it since she had only seen it in pictures.

Or maybe she really wanted to see it “up close and personal.”

We happened upon the storage box that contained my wedding dress; I was kind of worried what it might look like now, after being packed away nearly 18 years.

It was beautiful. Badly wrinkled and musty-smelling, but beautiful: still white and poofy with all its beads.

“You should put it on!” She said excitedly.

“No, I…,” I began, until I remembered that it was the eve of our 18th anniversary; this would be our first — and hopefully last — anniversary apart. ”Okay! And we can email a picture to your Papa so he can see his bride on our anniversary tomorrow.”

“Mom’s going to put on her wedding dress!” she called to her siblings.

The kids were SOOO excited about this! They waited anxiously while ‘Saja buttoned and zipped me up.

Acia took pictures, our sons just had to hug their mom in her wedding dress (Awww! —it was so special), and our cats wanted to play in the layers of tulle inside the dress as I stood for pictures. It became an unexpected family event! All that was missing was Richard in his tuxedo tails with his emerald green tie and cummerbund.

Yeah, this minor change in plans became the highlight of my anniversary eve. The garage gets to wait another day or two.

© Alexa Lopez, 2008