dress

The dress is over half a century old, made the way they used to make 'em, to last and last. Anna's Granny wore it, or Anna's Great Auntie, one of the two identicals, though they were probably a little older than her then since she's such a gigantic girl and they are so petite. When I was little I had a beloved life-size baby doll with thick lashes that batted sweetly when you tilted her up and down. She wore this dress, as did an assortment of stuffed bears and monkeys and probably the elephant too. I hope I didn't secretly dress my brother up in it, but I can't make any promises. This morning Anna woke up smiling as she always does and seemed delighted to be inside this piece of history. The little girl I was would've been in ecstasy - oh the dimpled elbows and the little fat thighs. If it's true that all moments exist simultaneously in a heap of something like snapshots, maybe that little girl was peering into the frame of this morning, delighted. Every little girl should have an Easter dress, don't you think, of cream colored muslin with cunning little embroidered roses and hand-gathered pleats. . .