Squeaky, new, white patent leather
shoes, lacy white gloves and a new dress in the shade of mint green. That’s
what I remember most about Easter. I was
so lucky as a kid to have a family of seamstresses and I could always look
forward to a new dress on Easter Sunday, tailor made for me.
My sister’s and I didn’t get an
Easter basket delivered from the Easter Bunny. In fact, I didn’t even know
about the Easter Bunny until I was in Junior High and realized that all these
years, all the other kids had been getting gifts on Easter. Of course, we always got plenty of candy eggs
and trinkets, and a day filled in the sun hunting for the elusive “golden egg”.
Our Easter mornings involved being
washed and curled, and finally getting to wear that new dress to church. The material was crisp, without any wrinkles or creases
in the pleats, and the shoes, for a very short time were scuff free.
I never felt more beautiful than on
Easter morning. I walked a little taller
in those shoes with tiny raised heels and sashayed a little bit more to let the
skirt twirl back and forth.
A lot of years, the dresses that my sisters
and I had were made to match or coordinate in some way. By the time that I had
gotten to Junior High this was so not cool and all I wanted was something
from the store, something trendy with a “label”.
What I didn’t realize then was that
it wasn’t the dress that made me feel beautiful. It was because I felt special. The dresses were designed for
us. Hours were spent getting them just right for us, the colors chosen just for
us. It was all that love that made me feel special, not the dress, not
really.
Today, when it gets close to
Easter, I think back to the traditions of my family and hope that my children
will look as fondly on their memories as I do mine. I am not a seamstress. It’s
something that I hope to learn someday, along with crocheting, quilting and all
the crafty things I was just too cool to learn as a kid. But, even though my daughter won’t
wake up this Easter to a tailor made dress for her, I hope that I will find ways to make her feel special. I hope that she will feel beautiful simply because I love her.
