That comment spurred this\u00c2\u00a0memory, more than 25 years old, of an anonymous child\u00c2\u00a0wearing one of Rebecca’s dresses.\u00c2\u00a0 It left me with feelings that I have been unable to accurately identify, express\u00c2\u00a0 or understand, even to this day.\u00c2\u00a0 Allow me to give you some background so you might see this from my perspective.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most of\u00c2\u00a0my daughter’s\u00c2\u00a0wardrobe was heirloom sewn or smocked.\u00c2\u00a0 I was stitching \u00c2\u00a0nearly full time, as were her grandmother and\u00c2\u00a0one adoring \u00c2\u00a0aunt who had no children.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Rebecca had smocked school dresses, smocked church dresses with matching smocked bonnets, smocked play clothes, smocked hair barrettes, smocked nightgowns and\u00c2\u00a0smocked coats.\u00c2\u00a0 The child was literally clothed in stitches of love.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course, you cannot save everything, especially\u00c2\u00a0when there is just soooo much.\u00c2\u00a0 I gave away so many of her smocked things and always enjoyed knowing that some other child would be wearing these sturdy classics. A \u00c2\u00a0good many of\u00c2\u00a0Becca’s \u00c2\u00a0garments were put away and have been loaned to and worn by other children, as well as by my granddaughter Laurel who wears them now.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Rebecca was still small, several of her dresses were given a\u00c2\u00a0another child at church, including one made of blue and white windowpane fabric, cut from Trudy Horne’s Toddler Smocked Apron<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0www.collarsetc.com<\/a> \u00c2\u00a0Still one of my all-time favorites, this sweet pattern has just a bit of smocking at the center front neckline, room enough for one picture smocked figure.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0For a play dress, Rebecca and I both loved it.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0This particular dress featured\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0white cuffs and collar piped in red,\u00c2\u00a0with a big red apple smocked at the front.\u00c2\u00a0 With matching windowpane bloomers, it was a perfect preschool playground outfit.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n When I gave it to Ashley’s mother, there were no strings attached.\u00c2\u00a0 I did not ask to have it returned to me, only that she enjoy it and pass it on.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n About two years later, one of\u00c2\u00a0my children suffered another painful ear infection and I found myself\u00c2\u00a0once \u00c2\u00a0again at the all night pharmacy, waiting for\u00c2\u00a0the \u00c2\u00a0prescription.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n As I strolled the aisles at midnight, hoping for distraction, I spotted a little urchin in the blue windowpane apron.\u00c2\u00a0 The dress was a size 3, the child about a size 18 months.\u00c2\u00a0 She was dirty, her hair was tangled, her feet were bare and she looked exhausted as she wandered up the aisle, alone\u00c2\u00a0with her thumb in her mouth.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n I just\u00c2\u00a0halted and stared.\u00c2\u00a0 Shortly, a shabby,\u00c2\u00a0irritable looking \u00c2\u00a0man came along and snatched up\u00c2\u00a0her by the arm without a word.\u00c2\u00a0 Then she was gone, \u00c2\u00a0in the blue windowpane Toddler Smocked Apron.<\/p>\n As I stood there, a jumble of disconnected thoughts ran through my head, like a series of commercials on tv, all unrelated all on the same channel. Why did I feel so unsettled?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Well, the child should have been in bed, I knew that.\u00c2\u00a0 But perhaps, like me, her father was awaiting a prescription and had no one with whom to leave the little girl.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n She should have been bathed, I knew that too.\u00c2\u00a0 But sometimes things happen and baths don’t.<\/p>\n The dress did not fit her.\u00c2\u00a0 But was that enough reason for my unease?<\/p>\n Did I resent this little ragamuffin wearing the dress I\u00c2\u00a0stitched with so much love?\u00c2\u00a0 No….I hoped some of the love stitched in that frock somehow leeched through to the tiny girl.\u00c2\u00a0 I hoped that some of the positive attention\u00c2\u00a0that is so often\u00c2\u00a0drawn by a\u00c2\u00a0smocked dress would be directed to the child.<\/p>\n Was it the contrast between what I knew to be Rebecca’s life in a cocoon of love and safety and what I imagined to be this little\u00c2\u00a0girl’s life of insecurity?\u00c2\u00a0 Was\u00c2\u00a0 it fair to make such assumptions on a moment’s glance in the drug store?\u00c2\u00a0 Would my opinion of her situation\u00c2\u00a0be different if she had been wearing some generic, non-descript little outfit?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n I don’t know.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0And I probably never will know what I feet about thatmidnight encounter with the Toddler Smocked Apron.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Has anyone else had a similar experience?\u00c2\u00a0 How did you react?\u00c2\u00a0 Karen,\u00c2\u00a0 how you would feel if you ran into one of\u00c2\u00a0your Goodwill give-away dresses? I’d really like to know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" day#8 post op You have a lot of time to think in rehab.\u00c2\u00a0 Certainly, you are busy enough with all the therapy and nurse visits, etc.\u00c2\u00a0 But a lot of time is spent resting, trying to think about anything other … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/TSAcover.jpg\" "\\"TSAcover\\"")
<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0.<\/p>\n