Somewhere along the way the dress she wore was damaged due to water in a basement flood. It became mildewed and ruined. Mom told Dad to throw it away. He just couldn't. It was placed in a bag, then a box and was much forgotten over the years.

We cleaned out Dad's basement last year, and I brought the dress home with me. It was forgotten again - for awhile. I was doing laundry this spring and saw the box. I had never seen Mom's dress, other than in pictures. I took it out and hung it up. It was very dirty, musty and wrinkled. I stepped back to memorize the details and imagine how my mother must have felt when she wore it that beautiful, sunny day. I couldn't stop the flow of tears that inevitably came. I cried for Mom not being there to tell my girls the wonderful love story that she and Dad shared. I cried for how much I missed her and how she would love my girls. I cried for how my mother must have felt for her beautiful gown to be destroyed in that basement flood so many years ago. This one day of her life she was the princess marrying her prince. How she must have ached to see that beautiful memory of her wedding day get ruined - but I couldn't throw it away either. It hung in my basement, airing out and slowly crying beads onto the concrete floor.

The dress was forgotten again, paying silent tribute to Mom each time I saw it while rushing to do laundry. Meanwhile, I was in a quandary as to how to make a dress for Kate for my brother's upcoming wedding. The bride hadn't gotten me a swatch of fabric from her dress and the pattern I had seemed so complicated. She wanted her to look like a little bride, a princess, as I told Kate. If only my Mom could just make it for her! Oh how Mom would have loved to make clothes for all of my little girls like she did for me. I was frustrated, angry for Mom not able to help me sort this out, and the creative juices had the consistency of Jello.

One morning, I woke up with a resounding thought in my head. "Make Kate's dress from mine!" It was like a message from Mom. She's good at leaving them for me in my dreams. I wasn't totally sure she had put it there. I was very torn at thinking of possibly wrecking her dress further. I only have a speck of her talent at sewing. So after much thought, and running it by a couple of close friends, the thought took hold and I grew excited. Those juices began to flow. There was one last way for me to know I had my Mom's approval - "Okay Mom, I'll know this is the right thing to do if the fabric matches Beth's gown." I began to take it apart, crying and apologizing to Mom for what I was going to do. I received a small piece of the bride's dress and held my breath. I held it up to the cleanest part I could find in Mom's dress. The match was perfect! I had received my answer.

I began the real work. I packed up the kids and headed for the local dry cleaner. He looked at the dress, listened to my story, and refused to touch it. He sent me home to wash it in the bathtub with gentle soap and come back if it was still stained or smelly. I never needed to. The "bath" did the trick! Many of the stains lifted out after some experimenting, and the majority of the gown could be used. My mother-in-law took up the project and helped in the design and creation. She took the bodice and carefully sculpted it to fit a three year old. The gown is now a scaled down replica of the gown my mother wore on the day she married her prince charming. Ironically it is very similar to the dress that Beth had originally picked for Kate in the first place.

I held my breath with each snip and stitch, hoping and praying that I could pull this big project off. On the evening that I finished it, I hung it up and was amazed. It was so beautiful, so perfect. Kate can hardly wait to wear it.

We had breathed new life into a lifeless, lost, dress. It will see another wedding day for the son of those two people in love. I know Kate will glow dressed as a princess in her "grandma angel's" dress. Hopefully the sun will shine down on it again. Maybe that will be a further sign of approval from Mom and Dad. I am planning to keep it a surprise for most of the family. It's a gift I hope they enjoy.