Easter Dresses

 

When I was growing up, I remember that Easter dresses were kind of a big deal. Sometimes they were also an ordeal.  When I was a toddler, my mother attempted to make my dress. I shouldn’t say attempted – she succeeded, but from the stories I’ve heard it got pretty ugly before it was done. You can’t tell it by the pictures, though. She is smiling, kneeling down by me in her stylish horn-rimmed glasses. I am holding a giant inflatable Easter bunny. Our dresses match - a beautiful purple and mine has a cape.

Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. –Luke 12:27

 

I am pretty sure that was the last attempt to sew an Easter dress. Most years procuring a dress meant a whole Saturday of shopping. Not just locally. No, Easter dresses are special and require a trip to the big city nearby: Texarkana, Temple, Midland, or Lubbock – depending on where we lived at the time. Dad never understood what a near Herculean task this could prove to be. Every year, we were greeted at the end of a long day of shopping with, “Good grief, what took y’all so long?” and “I was worried sick and about to call the law!” (Remember, this was before cell phones.) Still, it was usually worth the effort. It was on one of these trips that we discovered THE dress. It was a pale pink, cotton-candy like creation, with lace and a dotted-Swiss, organza overlay. Up to that point in my young life it was the fanciest article of clothing this tom-boy had ever loved.

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. – Proverbs 3: 13-15

Sometimes it was more about the accessories than the actual dress. New white, patent leather sandals with little white lace trimmed socks were the standard for many years. However, I wasn’t afraid to take a risk, like the year I wore a white sundress that I layered with a yellow tank-top (for modesty’s sake) and YELLOW Huarache sandals. Oh yes, I did!! Then there was what I refer to as, The Year of the HAT. This particular year, we ordered dresses from the Sears catalog. I chose a navy and white horizontal stripe with a HUGE white sailor collar. It was the 80’s, so of course there were also big shoulder pads! It actually wasn’t too bad. The problem was the lady in the catalog was wearing a huge straw hat with a white hatband/bow. I thought it was amazing. Several times, my mom asked if I was sure about the hat. I insisted it had to be. At the time, I thought she was concerned about the money – it cost almost as much as the dress. Now, looking back at the pictures I see now that my mom had probably already come to accept what I had failed to yet realize - I simply look like a dork in a hat. Bless her heart, she often tried to tactfully save me from myself (there’s a whole other story about a perm! Yikes!!).

Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. – Proverbs 31:30

These days I hardly ever wear a dress to church, that is, except for Easter. There is something about the promise of hope, the celebration of the resurrection, and the newness of spring that requires dressing up. Today, as I reflect on the solemnness that is Good Friday, I rejoice, because I know Sunday is coming!!

 

(this was originally written in 2014)