Mom-ents: Would You Sell Your Wedding Dress?

My Mom and I were recently talking about things that were stored at her house and how if needed, where she could downsize. I don't have much left there, but what I do have left there is my wedding dress. It's stored in the closet in my childhood bedroom. I never brought it to our home because well, in an apartment with 2 kids, storage space is highly sought after real estate and there is little room for things that don't serve a functional purpose. 

My dress hung from a ceiling fan...LOL

When I saw my dress, I just knew that it was the ONE. It was the dress that I would marry my husband in. The beginning of our "forever". It was right off the rack, but it was perfect. It fit just right in all the right places, it was elegant and simple. It had just enough bling to sparkle. 

My parent's wedding day

However, my mother's dress holds so much more sentimental value. My grandmother had the gift of being able to do wonderful things with fabric and a sewing machine. She used that gift and made my mother's wedding dress. Mom always thought that maybe someday her daughter would wear it. And while it is a beautiful dress, it wasn't my style. Then she thought, well maybe it can be made into a granddaughter's Christening gown. She has 4 grandsons. So, what does she do with it now? Hold on to it, sell it, create something new?

Then I saw an article posted my The Huffington Post, originally from Buzzfeed, were daughter's try on their mom's wedding dress and do a photo shoot. I thought that was a pretty awesome idea! Create a new memory from an old one. What do you think, Mom? Could be fun!

I started thinking about what I wanted to do with my wedding dress. I always just thought that I would store it way for the rest of my life and someday when I was old and grey, make that choice. I also used to be a pack rat. LOL. 

Did I want to continue to store it in the hopes that I would have a granddaughter someday? Chances are it would be out of style anyway. Did I want to sell it or donate it? Did I want to create something more functional? Or maybe create a new dress for a 10 year vow renewal...Hmmm, that sounds interesting.

So, I am curious to know, what did you do or plan to do with your wedding dress?

No wedding dresses were harmed in the making of this blog post. Both dresses remain perfectly preserved and stored. 

Throwback Thursday - June 12, 2014

Dad's 57th birthday dinner at Benihana

Although this picture isn't too much of a throwback, it only dates back to October 2013, it has become a picture that I hold very close to my heart.

Dad discovered Benihana many many years ago when he was working in Detroit, Michigan. Every year for his birthday, the only thing he wanted was to have dinner at Benihana and we all looked forward to it every year; the food was good and we had a great time together. And each year we took another family photo. We would joke how each year the family grew and soon, we would take up more than one table.

This is the last family photo we ever took. And ironically, we came to realize that it is the only photo of our entire family; all 4 grandsons included. In this photo, my sister-in-law was pregnant with their second child, and this was taken 2 weeks before we found out we were pregnant with our second. So, it is the only photo we will ever have of the entire family.

Looking at these pictures is sometimes hard. We were all so happy, we were all together. We were all smiling. But I am happy that we were able to capture these memories to look back on and remember the wonderful times that we have had and how wonderful of a man my dad was.

I miss him every minute of every day, but I know that he will always be here to watch over us, protect us and guide us, just like he always did. In like, he did everything he did for us and I know he will do that in death as well.

Throwback Thursday - May 8, 2014

Mom and I on my wedding day

I chose this picture of my mom and I for this week's Throwback Thursday because Mother's Day is this Sunday. This is also one of the very few pictures that I have of just me and my mom. I know she is probably going to hate this picture, she has changed so much since then, but in my eyes, that day she looked beautiful. She was so happy and proud that her little girl was getting married.

It was also the day that my relationship with my mom began to change and evolve into what it is today. I wouldn't say that we ever had a bad relationship, my relationship with both my parents was always pretty good. But growing up, I did give them some hard times, as I am sure most kids to during their teenage years. Heck, I know adults that still give their parents heart failure. 

Our relationship changed in that I understood her more. I understood the things that she did to make her marriage work. I understood what it was to maintain a home, worry about finances. I understood her as a wife. It was on this day, that we became friends. 

I don't know what I would ever do without my mom, although the sad reality is one day, I will. I call her to vent, to laugh, to cry, to know that their is someone on the other end that understands, not just because she is a woman too, but because she is my mom and I am part of her. 

I know I can call her a million times and ask her how to make a hard boiled egg, something I just can't commit to memory and I know she will be there to tell me how. I could be looking all over the place for something very specific and if I tell her, sure as the sky is blue, she will be the one to find it. She comes up with solutions to problems that only a seasoned wife and mother could possibly think of and most times, they are positively genius. 

Not only is she a fantastic mother, but she has morphed into the most amazing grandmother to all her grandkids. They are her life. They keep her going when sometimes she feels that the cards are stacked up against her and things aren't going right. They are just as lucky to have her as I am.

I just hope that my mother knows just how much she means to me and that I wish her the most wonderful of Mother's Days, this year and always. 

Throwback Thursday - April 24, 2014

Aunt Marji and I at the Mousetrap Bar (no idea who the creepy guy in the background is). 

This weeks Throwback Thursday is dedicated to my godmother, Aunt Marji. We lost her just 2 short weeks ago. 

I always admired my Aunt. She was so strong. In her early 20's, she had a kidney transplant, she was born with only one kidney. Doctors at one point told her that she would never have kids. She went on to have 2 beautiful children, one who literally became a rocket scientist and the other a teacher. That first kidney lasted for many years, until she once again began the process of regular dialysis until another kidney was available for her. 

In 2012, our prayers were answered and she got the call that a match had been found. However, our joy was short lived when in June of 2013, she found out that she had ovarian cancer. The same cancer that took her mother's life (my grandmother) in 1996. With advancements in cancer treatments, we were always hopeful that she would beat this thing. She endured round after round of chemo, all the while hoping her new kidney would withstand the stress. After the cancer had shrunk enough, the doctors performed a hysterectomy and again we were hopeful this was all over. But the cancer had made its way to other places. Attacking other organs in her body. She lost weight, a lot of weight. She lost her hair. But she never lost her spirit. 

Unfortunately, the cancer won and she passed peacefully surrounded by her family. 

She fought hard. She endured more than anyone that I have ever known, but she always smiled. On the surface, she had a "thems the breaks" type of attitude. Just like my grandmother did. 

I always felt a kinship with my aunt. Although I didn't go through anywhere near what she did, we both had c sections. Both our first born were preemie, although hers a few weeks sooner than mine. Whenever I was concerned about Brandon, I thought of her son, who was born at 28 weeks, he is the rocket scientist.

And as with my grandmother, I never understood how someone could face so much uncertainty and endure so much and still stay positive and be grateful for the things that they do have. However, it's people like my aunt and my grandmother that have taught me no mater what, there is always something to be thankful for, even when the situation seems hard and bleak.

I love my aunt dearly and will always miss her. But I know she is no longer living in pain and she is at peace. 

Touched by an Angel?

I've been wanting to get back into writing again lately, but didn't want to write a "hey, I'm back" post. I wanted to wait until I had something meaningful to write about. Last night, that blog post found me, as I'm sure, so did my angel.

After dinner, I decided to go grocery shopping, even though it is the last thing I want to do at 7pm. New Jersey was supposed to get some severe thunderstorms, but the sun was out and the sky was relatively clear. The clouds looked anything but threatening. So, I headed off to the store, list in hand. As I made it through the store, I kept looking out the window watching as the sky grew darker and more menacing. I knew I only had a handful of things left to buy and I had a week's worth of shopping done.

As I stood at the deli counter, I could start to hear thunder. My husband called me, very worried about the storm and I was out in it. Not to mention we still had to cart all that stuff up the stairs. I assured him I'd be fine and I only had a few things left to buy. A gentleman standing at the counter must have overheard my conversation and asked me, "what number do you have?". I replied saying 7 (they were on number 5). He proceeded to switch numbers with me saying, "you're husband seems worried and I have nowhere to be". I thanked him and told him how grateful I was because quite honestly, the storm was getting bad. He was an Italian guy, maybe in his mid forties. He wore gym shorts and a t-shirt and had salt and pepper hair. He looked like the type of guy that coached his son's little league team. He was through ordering before I finished and he was gone.

I ran and got the last of my list and went through the register, paid and bagged all my groceries. You could tell I just wanted to get out of there because my normally organized packing took a serious hit. I just wanted to get done and get home.

By this point, the ran was coming down so hard that the parking lot was flooding, it was very windy and the lightening was pretty vicious. I stood outside under the awning with a few other shoppers. I looked around and said out loud, "FML". We all giggled and I decided it was now or never.

Just as I reached the divide between the cement and the asphalt and just when I was about to get soaked, a car pulled up right in front of me with an umbrella hanging out the window. It was the man from the deli counter. He asked me where I was parked and I pointed to my truck just across the way.

He pulled away and I opened the umbrella and headed to the truck. I was a little nervous about holding an umbrella during a lightening storm, standing in a puddle. But something told me I'd be fine and not to be scared. I quickly loaded all my things into the truck and in the faith of paying it forward, I returned the cart to under the awning.

As I made it back to the truck, the man pulled up again. I folded his umbrella, shook it out and handed it to him through the window. I said, "you were like my angel tonight, thank you so much." He said, "just get home safe" and drove away.

It isn't often that you meet a total stranger that would do that much for another person and I feel truly blessed to have been touched by an angel last night. And even if this man wasn't really an angel, than at the very least my faith in the human race has been slightly restored.

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