This Saturday will be our 11th wedding anniversary – he’s definitely my record.

But in addition to it being our anniversary, it’s also “Dress Day”.  The one day a year I try my wedding dress on.  Why you ask?  Well, silly, to make sure it still fits, of course.  That is my goal.  To always fit into that dress.  Sure – it may be slightly tighter than it once was, but as of last year, I’m proud to say it still zipped up!

I never intended to keep my wedding dress in my closet this long.  It just kind of happened.  It seemed like such a shame to have it cleaned, boxed and stored somewhere out of sight right after the wedding.  So I figured I’d wait a few months before I did that so I could enjoy seeing my dress a few more times.  Then before I knew it, it was our first anniversary and I thought “wonder if it still fits”?  So I tried her on.  And she did!  And she was still SO pretty.  I walked down the hallway of our little apartment like it was the aisle of a cathedral.  And by our second anniversary I had a three month old baby and wondered if it would still fit.  It was close, but – yep!  (and I assure you that my dress is not made of anything stretchy)  And thus began the annual challenge – I would not clean, box and store my dress until the day she no longer fit.

And then the second son came along and we decided that there would be no more babies.  Which also meant no little girls.  Girls that LOVE to see their Mommy’s wedding dress.  To touch it and smell it.  And try it on.  And imagine.  And pretend.  And dream.  And if there wasn’t going to be any little girls, then who would love that beautiful dress?  It was just too much to bear.  So I decided that if there was not to be a little girl to play with the dress, then I would just have to do it myself.

So every year . . . out she comes!  And when the boys were little they thought it was kind of wondrous and exciting.  I would ask “Who wants to see Mommy’s big white princess dress???” and they would come running.  But now they have all seen it.  Many times.  And now it’s not so wondrous anymore.  Nope.  Now it’s just kind of silly.  But I don’t care.

So this weekend I will put on that dress.  And that veil.  And I will glide down our staircase and through the Family room with the train trailing behind me.  And I will bat my eyelashes and ask “how do I look???” and they will smile and say “you look pretty Mommy” and go back to whatever they were doing.  And off I will go.  Smiling.  And gliding back up the stairs.  Where I will stand in front of the mirror for a few more minutes before I lovingly put her back in her cover in the corner of the cupboard.  Until next year.

Happy Dress Day to me!