Treasures

Every time I go to visit Mom and Dad I am sent home with some sort of "treasure" what that actually means is Mom wants stuff out of her house, but can't bring herself to throw anything away...so it comes home with me! Sometimes the treasures don't even leave my car and go straight to the donation bin...shhhh...but every now and then something comes along that I love. A sweet book, craft stuff for my classroom, random pots/pans/bowls, a beautiful pink 3 tier candy dish thing that belonged to my Great Grandmother(now that's a treasure!!) Last weekend I came home with a bag of "goodies," as I pulled things out I came across a puzzle box...now if you know me you know that this girl does not do puzzles...at all. Don't be giving me puzzles or plants... if you know, you know. This puzzle box had something written on it...and when I saw it it almost took my breath away. That wasn't just anyones handwriting...that was my Granny's writing. "Dress I wore to Charis's wedding" was scrawled across the top of the box...I could picture the dress before I even opened the box. A chartreuse colored sheath dress with a short sleeve jacket. I opened the box and carefully took the dress out, and immediately brought it to my face...as if maybe that box had preserved some of her smell. My wedding day was one of the best days of my life, outshined only by the births of our children. We chose to have our wedding at my grandparents house. We (really they) worked for a year getting everything ready. My grandparents were so excited that I chose to have my special day on their property ... but it also stressed my Granny out just a bit. She needed me to have a "plan B" because "What if it rains, Charis!?" to which I told her plan B was an umbrella, and rain boots, because there were two things I was sure about ... who I was marrying, and where I was getting married...nothing else mattered to me. The day before the wedding she informed me, that she did in fact reserve her church..."just in case" ..."Oh Granny," I giggled, "I'm getting married right here." so... they (my family) started praying...there was a chance for rain, and I guess they didn't want to get wet...becuase I really didn't care! The day turned out to be gorgeous, complete with butterflies flittering around, or so I'm told...I don't remember the specifics, just that it was the most perfect day, because I was with the one I loved, surrounded by friends and family, at my most favorite place in all the world...Granny and Grendaddys. I got off track a bit (that happens pretty often) back to the dress. I never realized the significance of that color until yesterday. I love Fiesta dishes (Granny did too) and for my registry those are the dishes I asked for...I still use those dishes 23 years later. One of my most favorite colors in those dishes was the lime green/chartreuse color...that of course was discontiued at that time. Granny liked that color too, and kept her eye out to find me some. I don't know if she thought about that when choosing her dress, but when I realized that today it meant something to me. More than that though, I realized how special that day had to have been to her...special enough to put that dress in a box, label it, and save it... I never knew that I would want that dress, but what a treasure it is!!