Thought I’d be done…

I’ll start with this:

We are 10 weeks away from “the big day” and my dress is coming along nicely. I anticipated it would be finished today, but alas, it is not. Hand-sewing takes time and I’ve spent a majority of the weekend hand-sewing lace pieces onto the outer dress. The front is mostly finished. I had an epiphany last night (as usual — I tend to get them in the middle of the night when I should be asleep). I thought to myself that since the dress will not have a train, I could make the lace pieces into a diagonal, thus creating the illusion of a train. Besides, people will be looking at my backside — may as well give something to look at! So today I went about the creation of the diagonal pattern and sewing each piece onto the outer dress takes time.

Last week I found a dry cleaner that does steam-pressing. I don’t know if I have the terminology down, but had been thinking of getting my dress, both the slip and the outer dress pressed. I tried doing it myself with the iron, but it is heavy and slippery and doesn’t sit on the ironing board at all. I was hoping I could have it finished by tomorrow so I could take it in, but will probably wait until next week.

I was thinking about my mom making her dress 60 years ago. I saw her dress when I was in California a few weeks ago. My dress (both parts) actually weigh more. I wondered if my mom found a variety of fabric to choose from or if she saw white satin and thought, “This is it!” The satin I purchased for my dress is “stretch satin” not that it is elastic or anything. It has way more give than Mom’s fabric. She didn’t have a train either, but her dress was the style of the times. We will celebrate her 60th Wedding anniversary with a memorial for my dad this year. That will be five days after our wedding. This photo doesn’t show much detail. I like that it shows two people in love and with no idea what will to come in their next 59 years together.

I was planning to post a photo of the finished product, but that will wait since the product isn’t finished yet. I was going to do a “dress rehearsal” with my dress. I have time. I didn’t want to push it with time — I mean we still have 10 weeks (well, 9 weeks and 6 days). But I won’t have to. If I finish the rest of my dress, say in the next day or two, I will be sure to post that photo. And an update that is more complete than this one.

I learned something this past week. And I will say that I am wrong sometimes. This week, I realized that we, as people, are more alike than different. Sometimes I think we believe the stuff about how we are one way or another, even as we try to deny that we are a certain way. For example, there are two main political parties in this country. Even if we exhibit some characteristics of both, these two parties tend to make you think you cannot think a certain way or you’re supposed to dislike the opposition and everything they stand for, when, in reality, we should all stand for what is right, even if it doesn’t align with the political party we vote for most often. I’ve been examining my attitudes about people I care about, but don’t vote the same as me. The very thing I criticize in people’s attitudes are the very thing I think at times and I don’t want to be that person with no open-mindedness. I don’t know if the person who forced me to think this will read this, but since you know who you are, please realize, I love you regardless. We are more alike than different, thank goodness. And we are more than who we vote for in elections. Stay safe and stay well.