Dear Reader:

I  vividly remember the dress that got away, maybe in the same way that some women remember the man who got away. I can see it and almost feel it…soft pink, perfect pink angora/cashmere blend, long sleeves, mock turtleneck with a hemline just above the knee.

My mother had taken me to run errands after school one day. I was about 10 years old. We were racing through Gottschalk’s, a local department store,  in pursuit of a crock-pot when I came to an abrupt stop in front of a child-sized mannequin.

“Oh, mom,” I exclaimed.

“Oh, no!” was the quick reply.

My mother was not born with a love of pink or fashion, and I’m quite sure that the dress would have been out of the budget, anyway. But, to mom’s credit, she remembered the shade of pink I had admired and a couple of weeks later sat down at her sewing machine to make me a short, polyester skirt that I wore with a pink, cotton turtleneck in an attempt to re-create my dream look.

Since then, I’ve purchased many pink dresses, bags, scarves and shoes; most of them are gone and forgotten. Yet, nearly 50 years later I still remember that dress… so maybe it didn’t get away after all!

Sincerely,

Michele

P.S. The first day of Spring is a nice day to shop for the perfect pink dress!