White Linen, Lace and Pearls

Our youngest daughter is getting married in August.

She is making her own wedding gown.

As hard as it is for me to get my head wrapped around that first sentence, I never thought I'd ever say the second.

Not that the young woman isn't talented. She is. Amazingly so. She made us dinner this evening which was delicious: grilled swordfish, bulgur wheat salad with shredded carrots and shiitake mushrooms and home made focaccia bread.

It was absolutely, perfectly delicious. Then again, I remember when she couldn't make a bowl of cereal for breakfast. The entire dinner was lovely.

After we finished dessert, we talked about the progress on her wedding gown. She has a very simple design of white/ivory summer linen shell over which she is layering lace sewn with pearls.

She has some lace from her future mother-in-law's wedding gown which, much to my amazement, is a very close pattern to the lace that is part of the dress she wore when she graduated from the 8th grade.

The dress also has some pearls as part of the bodice, which Mia thinks she can remove and sew into her wedding dress.

I have an antique pearl necklace and earrings which she'll wear, which will look elegant and beautiful. Indeed, I'll have to check the pictures, but I do believe she wore that same set when she graduated from middle school.

I keep seeing that graduation dress in front of me. It looks so small. And yet, my memory of her on that occasion is that she had grown from a tween into a budding teen and into a tall, willowy, giggly young girl.

I can still see her clustered at the back of the auditorium with her friends from The Hudson School in Hoboken, NJ, signing their names on their Year Book which they supported on each other's backs.

Where did that giggly, gawky, little girl go? When did she become this beautiful, graceful, creative young woman?

White linen, lace and pearls.

I suspect they have been present at the major events of a young woman's life for centuries. Three reliable companions on the journey across the milestones of life.

There's something about the interplay of their individual purity, delicacy and durability that speak about ancient longings and newborn hope and promised futures in a language we all instantly recognize and understand.

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around it all.

Our youngest daughter is getting married in August.

She is making her own wedding gown.